Descartes' Ontology of Everyday Life (2007-2009)
Abstract
Rene Descartes (1596-1650) is probably the most important philosopher in the transitional period between medieval and early modern thought. In particular, Descartes advanced a conception of physical matter as uniform and governed by a single set of physical laws, thus making possible a unified physics and astronomy. This project will demonstrate how Descartes conception of matter raised the problem for him of how to account for objects of everyday life machines, animals, human beings, etc., and how he ingeniously sought to resolve this tension in his philosophy. The expected outcomes of this project are one book and two articles.
