Product Description

Founded in the mid-17th century, Rationalism was  philosophy's first step into the modern era. This  volume contains the essential statements of  Rationalism's three greatest figures: Descartes, who  began it; Spinoza, who epitomized it; and Leibniz,  who gave it its last serious expression.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #737727 in Books
• Published on: 1960-09-23
• Released on: 1960-08-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

From the Publisher
Founded in the mid-17th century, Rationalism was philosophy's first step into the modern era. This volume contains the essential statements of Rationalism's three greatest figures: Descartes, who began it; Spinoza, who epitomized it; and Leibniz, who gave it its last serious expression.

From the Inside Flap
Founded in the mid-17th century, Rationalism was  philosophy's first step into the modern era. This  volume contains the essential statements of  Rationalism's three greatest figures: Descartes, who  began it; Spinoza, who epitomized it; and Leibniz,  who gave it its last serious expression.

Customer Reviews

A superb compendium
The Anchor volume "The Rationalists" is a very handy one-volume compilation of the central texts of 17th Century Continental philosophy. Included are Descartes' "Discourse on Method" and "Meditations," Spinoza's "Ethics," and Leibnitz's "Discourse on Metaphysics" and the "Monadology." The only really famous text excluded here is Spinoza's "De Emendatione," but the inexpensive Prometheus Books paperback of the "Ethics" includes that. This handsome, portable paperback allows one to explore the development of Rationalist thinking chronologically from Descartes to Leibnitz without suffering the bloody-chunks omissions imposed by most undergrad philosophy texts. And the absence of scholarly commentary thankfully allows the reader to immerse herself fully in the preoccupations of these thinkers without constant hectoring about how they "failed"; instead, each of these multifaceted thinkers can prod the reader on their own terms. This is a wonderful volume not only for the philosopher or student of philosophy, but for theologians, historians, and even artists-- these three have much to say that is still pertinent for any reflective person.

The Rationalists vs. The Empiricists
The contents of this book relates to the long debate between rationalism and empiricism. For a book on empiricism, see Dunn, John with J.O. Urmson, and A.J.Ayer (1992) "The British Empiricists;" New York: Oxford University Press. Kant tried to solve this debate with his Critique of Pure Reasoning. But, Kant failed.

The debate came to an end when a number of linguists discovered (in the 1920s) that 'empirical data are primarily symbolic.' This discovery says that facts are not theory neutral. So, even police facts must be challenged to be sure that police theories of a crime agree with the crime facts. The same is true about a newspaper or TV report.

This book on Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz does not discuss the nature of rationalism and how it fits in the development of knowledge. I also found this book to be short on the thoughts of Leibniz, who challenged Newton's physical world. I recommend that readers expand their knowledge of Leibniz's work by seeking other sources of information. Including Leibniz's monadology in this book was important because his monads are becoming important in the current developments of modern creation theories.