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Descartes: The Life and times of a Genius

Descartes: The Life and times of a Genius
By A. C. Grayling

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Scientist, mathematician, traveler, soldier—and spy—Rene Descartes was one of the founders of the modern world. His life coincided with an extraordinary 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. But at his birth in 1596 the world was still dominated by medieval beliefs in phenomena such as miracles and spontaneous generation. It was Descartes who identified the intellectual tools his peers needed to free themselves from the grip of religious authority and in doing so he founded modern philosophy.
In this new biography, A. C. Grayling tells the story of Descartes’ life, and places it in his tumultuous times—with the unexpected result that an entirely new aspect of the story comes to light.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #596632 in Books
  • Published on: 2006-10-31
  • Released on: 2006-10-31
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 368 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
A devout Catholic who lived in a time of "miracles, spontaneous generation, and phoenixes rising from the ashes," not to mention the Spanish Inquisition, Descartes (1596–1650) spent most of his life trying to justify to the church a rational approach to studying the natural world. Though he did not succeed during his lifetime, Descartes laid the foundation for future tolerance of scientific and mathematical discoveries. The deceptive simplicity of his writings on age-old problems such as "I think therefore I am," mind-body dualism and his "method of doubt" contribute to his reputation as a genius; however, despite the book's subtitle, proving genius is not Grayling's main concern. Rather, this book of history illuminates the problems of an intellectual during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. In the first half of the book, Grayling proposes that the young Descartes was actually a spy for the Jesuits while living in Paris. Once Descartes leaves Paris for the Netherlands, a more crucial intellectual adventure begins in the conflict between his allegiance to the church and his "Copernican, materialist and mechanistic" scientific method. Unfortunately, this tension doesn't come across with the same vividness as in earlier chapters. 26 color and 11 b&w illus. not seen by PW. (Nov.)
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From Booklist
Grayling's profile of Rene Descartes (1596-1650) is a general-interest biography that follows the life stages and travels of the flesh-and-blood Descartes (those wanting a more scholarly approach should seek out Stephen Gaukroger's Descartes, 1995). Between his birth in rural France and his death at the Swedish royal court are curious gaps of biographical knowledge that invite plausible hypothesizing. Descartes' relation to the Rosicrucians, a supposed secret society, is mulled over by science historian Amir Aczel in Descartes' Secret Notebook (2005), as it is by Grayling here, albeit briefly. More lengthily, Grayling is intrigued by Descartes' presence, on the Catholic Hapsburg side, France's enemy, at key events in the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War. Grayling cautiously proposes that Descartes was a Jesuit spy. True or not, espionage enlivens what is otherwise Descartes' sedentary story of philosophical reflection, which Grayling tracks chiefly through surviving correspondence. This offers glimpses of Descartes' sociable personality, although he was prone to anger when crossed on points of intellectual pride. An informative presentation of the man behind cogito, ergo sum. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Praise for DESCARTES:
"In Descartes, A.C. Grayling…deftly conjures up the political and religious conflicts of Bohemia and France, Spain and Holland, and brings to life those distant characters and events that began to shape modern Europe…He makes a convincing case that Descartes had a minor role as some kind of intelligence agent in the affairs of the day." - Simon Blackburn, New York Times Book Review
 
“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 (London)
 
“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 found fathers of modernity… excellent intellectual biography.”—Sunday Times (London)
             
“Cogito 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)
 
"Grayling’s profile of René Descartes (1596–1650) is a general-interest biography that follows the life stages and travels of the flesh-and-blood Descartes (those wanting a more scholarly approach should seek out Stephen Gaukroger’s Descartes, 1995). Between his birth in rural France and his death at the Swedish royal court are curious gaps of biographical knowledge that invite plausible hypothesizing. Descartes’ relation to the Rosicrucians, a supposed secret society, is mulled over by science historian Amir Aczel in Descartes’ Secret Notebook (2005), as Grayling does here, albeit briefly. More lengthily, Grayling is intrigued by Descartes’ presence, on the Catholic Hapsburg side, France’s enemy, at key events in the outbreak of the Thirty Years War. Grayling cautiously proposes that Descartes was a Jesuit spy. True or not, espionage enlivens what is otherwise Descartes’ sedentary story of philosophical reflection, which Grayling tracks chiefly through surviving correspondence. These offer glimpses of Descartes’ sociable personality, although he was prone to anger when crossed on points of intellectual pride. An informative presentation of the man behind cogito, ergo sum." —Gilbert Taylor, Booklist 
 
 

Customer Reviews

Clear and compelling5
I enjoyed reading this book. I am not a philosophy maven but have always been interested in metaphysics. For me, Grayling's writing is clear and compelling. Descartes as a man and philosopher and his ideas and historical context all get equal treatment. The subtext of Descartes as a spy is interesting and provides good explanation for his constant movement, especially in his younger years. This is the only Descartes biography I've read but I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in him. A section of color and b/w plates help illuminate the subject. There are extensive footnotes. The first of two appendices provides modern context and perspective for Descartes' greatest contributions. The second appendix is a critique of philosopher biographies intended (in my opinion) to point the reader towards additional "good reads."

Good Biographical Reading4
I found Grayling's "Descartes" to be an interesting read from a pure biographical perspective. Although I have an interest in philosophy, Grayling writes in a way that reasonably intelligent laypersons can understand. Unfortunately, though, Grayling treads very little new ground, relying on past biographers of Descartes to do the legwork for him. The only new ground the author treads is relaying the proposition that Descartes was a spy. I actually find this plausible for two reasons: one, it explains Descartes' travelling; two, Descartes doesn't talk about his travelling much in his writings. These two factors give Grayling's hypothesis some weight. Grayling doesn't take too much time expositing Descartes' philosophy, but in an appendex he does give a brief introduction to it. Like I mentioned, the author does rely on other biographers for information, but that fact doesn't take away from the quality of the book. One fact that Grayling kept mentioning was that Descartes seemed to want to portray his ideals as acceptable to the church, and also to have his beliefs fit into the framework of "orthodox" theology of the time. I wondered why Grayling kept hitting on this point so many times, and then I came to the following conclusion: Grayling wants to excuse Descartes. One would imagine that if Descartes applied his method to the idea of the existence of God, one would conclude that it would be necessary to doubt, or even reject, the existence of God. Descartes never stated that God didn't exist, nor did he (as far as I know) even doubt it. By not stating that he doubted it, Descartes attempted to stay on good terms with the church. Descartes' later politiking shows me that he was concerned with ensuring his own safety, both physically and financially, which is fine. Grayling doesn't go this far in the book, but I think it is a necessary and unavoidable conclusion; I'm just surprised Graying didn't call Descartes out on it. To conclude this review, Grayling's bibliography is strong, giving the reader lots of roads to travel if one wants to explore the subject further, which I plan to do.

Intriguing thought that explains a lot5
This book brings up a very intersting set of connections that seem to explain a lot. True to program this book's focus is on biography instead of philosophy. But the biographical insights are well worth the read on their own. There is a good summary of Descartes' philosophical position in the first appendix. One surprise is how little mention there is of Spinoza especially in those sections that presents Descartes' impact on those who followed him. All in all, this is an excellent book to recommend to those students that want to spend some time on Descartes in an introductory course.