Cartesianism and Philosophy of Mind

List of contributors

Introduction Vili Lähteenmäki, Oberto Marrama, and Jani Sinokki

Part 1: Mind and intentionality
1. Modernizing the mind Alison Simmons and Matthias Somers
2. Representation and objective reality Jani Sinokki and Vili Lähteenmäki
3. The way of ideas: Robert Desgabets’s logical turn of 1671 Laura Moretti
4. Early modern reflection and late scholasticism: continuity or split? Daniel Schmal
5. Consciousness and the Cogito: the Huet–Régis Ccntroversy François Recanati

Part 2: Bodies and perception
6. Signs established by nature: the system of representation in Cartesian sensory ideas Lauren Douglas
7. Cordemoy and the Cartesian analogy between language and perception Anna Ortín Nadal
8. Descartes, Arnauld, and Elisabeth on thought’s dependence on the body Eric Stencil
9. La force qu’a l’ame de mouvoir le corps: the complicated case of Louis de La Forge Steven Nadler

Part 3: Mind and sociality
10. “Very little reason”: stupid minds in Descartes and Cartesianism Olivier Dubouclez
11. Malebranche on what we owe to each other Julie Walsh
12. The Cogito and the social dimension of self-knowledge: Claude Buffier Anik Waldow
13. Astell as Cartesian: a cautionary tale Jessica Gordon-Roth and Nancy Kendrick

Index

Biography

Vili Lähteenmäki is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Oulu and a Docent at the University of Jyväskylä. He mainly works on topics in the philosophy of mind and self in early modern philosophy. He has been a visiting researcher at Humboldt University of Berlin, the University of Queensland, and Harvard University. He is the director of the Academy of Finland project Thick Subjects: A Reconsideration of Early Modern Views of the Self (2020–25). In his published work, he has discussed early modern philosophy of mind widely, with a particular interest in early modern theories of consciousness.

Oberto Marrama is a Marie Skłodowska‑Curie Fellow at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and a Guest Research Fellow at the University of Oulu. His primary research area is early modern philosophy of mind. His publications have focused on the philosophies of Spinoza, Cavendish, Hobbes, and Descartes.

Jani Sinokki is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Turku. Sinokki works extensively in the philosophy of mind and language, with a focus on both historical and contemporary topics.

“This book offers an in-depth examination of the debates on mind in the Cartesian tradition, investigating the nature of ideas, consciousness, intentionality, sensory perception, as well as the social and moral dimensions of the Cartesian mind. It is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the richness and intricacies of Cartesian philosophy of mind.”

Sandrine Roux, University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada