Objections Against the Meditations and Replies
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1641-1642
- Form
- Treatise
- Language
- Latin
- Length
- Long · 320 pp300 to 700 pages
- Difficulty
- Difficult4 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Philosophical Writings of Descartes, Volume 2, translated by John Cottingham, Robert Stoothoff and Dugald MurdochCambridge University Press, 1984The complete set of the seven objections with Descartes's answers, in the standard translation.
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Descartes had the manuscript of the Meditations circulated before publication and printed the criticisms, with his answers, alongside it. Seven sets of objections arrive from theologians and philosophers, among them Hobbes, who denies that thinking proves an immaterial soul, Arnauld, who presses the charge that the proof of God and the proof of clear ideas argue in a circle, Gassendi, who defends the senses, and the Jesuit Bourdin, whom Descartes treats with contempt. The replies are where Descartes explains what he actually meant, often more plainly than in the Meditations themselves.
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The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Objections Against the Meditations and Replies are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.