Descartes: The Life of Rene Descartes and Its Place in His Times - Couverture rigide

Grayling, A. C.

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0743231473 ISBN 13 : 9780743231473

Editeur : Free Press, 2005

Synopsis

Scientist, mathematician, traveller, soldier -- and spy -- Rene Descartes has been called the 'father of modern philosophy'. Born in 1596 into an era still dominated by the medieval mindset, he was one of the chief actors in the riveting drama that ushered in the modern world. His life coincided with an extraordinarily significant time in history -- the first half of the miraculous seventeenth century, replete with genius in the arts and sciences, and wracked by civil and international conflicts across Europe. Before his death in 1650 Descartes made immense contributions to an exceptionally wide range of fields and disciplines, and his assertion 'Cogito, ergo sum' ('I think, therefore I am') has become one of the most famous maxims in all philosophy. He was the very archetype of a 'Renaissance man', and yet surprisingly little is known about him. Drawing on new research and his own insights as one of our leading philosophers, A. C. Grayling presents a stunningly accessible and fascinating portrait of the man and the remarkable era in which he lived.

A propos du livre

Revue de presse

'Descartes is clear and compelling, and often entertaining as well'
Literary Review Oct issue
'Brilliantly illuminating... A first-rate study of the history of ideas that has all the excitement of a thriller'
New Statesman 17/10
'As Newton was to physics, so Descartes was to philosophy, moving it from superstition and religion to science and reason. They are the founding fathers of the modern world. Grayling's life of Descartes is set firmly in the age of the Counter-Reformation and the Thirty Years War, which are evoked in a lively, almost novelistic style of which Descartes would certainly have approved. This propels the narrative forward and illuminates the philosophy for a lay readership'
The Times 22/10
'A most intriguing read'
Scotland on Sunday 25/11
'Grayling's account of the man and the thinker, which aims "to engage in conversation with non-specialists", navigates a careful path between the colourfully anecdotal and the challengingly scholarly, and succeeds admirably in producing an elegant, subtle and historically informed portrait of one of the founding fathers of modernity . . . this excellent intellectual biography gives readers an overview of other biographies of great philosophers that Grayling can recommend . . . for its lucidity, elegance and sweet reasonableness, Grayling on Descartes fully deserves to join the list'
SUNDAY TIMES
'Cogit ergo sum (I think, therefore I am), said Rene Descartes in the mid 17th Century - the most famous philosophical sentence ever uttered... As Grayling vividly conveys, in a era of deference to religious authority, this was revolutionary'
Mail on Sunday 4 stars 20/11
'[Two] new biographies by AC Grayling and Roger Pearson show how Descartes and Voltaire helped to make the modern world by undermining their religion... Grayling's is by far the more readable biography'
Independent 9/12
'Accessibly written and historically aware . . . enthralling . . . an intimate and enlightening picture of Europe in tumult and of a "solitary" and "prickly" genius who eventually succumbed to the low temperatures he abhorred' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
' This is an impressively wide-ranging biography of a philosopher who was often wrong, sometimes nasty - but never boring'
BBC Focus magazine, Dec issue
'A wonderfully cogent and concise appendix . . . Throughout this biography, Grayling writes with flair and insight . . . Grayling really comes into his own when describing the frienships and many academic persuits in which Descartes engaged . . . As a readable and mostly reliable biography for the general reader, AC Grayling's work is the best available'
Nicholas Hammond, TLS
'Grayling's account is distinctive because, aside from an elegant prose style not shared by all his predecessors, he emphasises the religious politics of the time'
Financial Times
'An entertaining and largely credible account of a figure who, for all his bookish legacy, lived an adventurous life, and whose radical Francophone writings that paved the way for atheistic materialism coexisted, in this version at least, with an enduring allegiance to the Society of Jesus and its clandestine agenda'
THES 7/4
'An accomplished and sometimes gripping biography, lucid when setting out Descartes' philosophy but equally assured in placing him in the turbulent context of the thirty years war and the era's religious disputes'
Guardian
'All the ingredients that a biographer could hope for. Grayling exploits them to the full in this balanced biography, written in elegant prose'
The Times

Quatrième de couverture

Scientist, mathematician, traveller, soldier - and spy - René Descartes was one of the founders of the modern world. Before his death in 1650 he had made immense contributions to an exceptionally wide range of fields and disciplines, with 'Cogito, ergo sum' ('I think, therefore I am') becoming one of the most famous maxims in all philosophy. He was the very archetype of a 'Renaissance man', and yet much of his life has been shrouded in mystery.
Drawing on new research and his own insights as one of our leading philosophers, A. C. Grayling has written a stunningly accessible and fascinating portrait of the man and the remarkable era in which he lived.
'A wonderfully spun detective story . . . [An] enthralling narrative . . . An intimate and enlightening picture of Europe in tumult and of a "solitary" and "prickly" genius'
Independent on Sunday
'Navigates a careful path between the colourfully anecdotal and the challengingly scholarly, and succeeds admirably in producing an elegant, subtle and historically informed portrait of one of the founding fathers of modernity'
Sunday Times
'If anyone merits a biography, Descartes does . . . There is not only room but also need for a balanced, readable book: and that is what Grayling has now written . . . Hindsight is more often a vice than a virtue in biography, but here Grayling makes it art'
Literary Review
Pocket Books
BIOGRAPHY
£9.99
ISBN: 1416522638

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Free Press
• Date d'édition: 2005
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0743231473
• ISBN 13: 9780743231473
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 368
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible