Descartes: A Study of His Philosophy

by Anthony Kenny

Kenny's Descartes is notably good & important book. He says it is "designed to help undergraduate and graduate students in understanding Descartes' philosphy". The book concentrates on Descartes' epistemology, metaphysics & philosophy of mind. The penultimate chapter, on Matter & Motion, contains a sucinct account of Descartes' mechanism & a critique of the a priori side of his natural philosophy.
Preface
Life & works
Cartesian doubt
Cogito ergo sum
Sum res cogitans
Ideas
The idea of God
The ontological arguement
reason & intuition
matter & motion
Mind & body
Notes
For Further Reading
Index

Genres: Philosophy

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Sir Anthony Kenny is an English philosopher whose interests lie in the philosophy of mind, ancient and scholastic philosophy, the philosophy of Wittgenstein, and the philosophy of religion.

Reviews

[Matilda Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kenny's style of writing is clear, explanatory, quick to read and easy to follow without being patronising. A priceless book for understanding Descartes' philosophy.

[IWB · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent study of Descartes' philosophy. It is more in depth than an introductory work, but not as ambitious as Bernard William's The Project of Pure Inquiry. It is not, however, an advanced critical approach to Descartes' philosophy, but nonetheless fits the bill of being sufficiently philosophically interesting and substantial.

Kenny's treament is just another book covering all the usual Cartesian suspects: e.g., res extensia, res cogitans, innate ideas (e.g. God, Substance), mind and body, reason and intuition. But Kenny does it so much better than most others, and his precise and clear presentation makes it easy reading, and appropriate for advanced undergrads and beginning grad students.

The book also includes a section on an aspect of Cartesian thought that is usually passed over in a work like this one. It includes a nice section on Descartes' view of matter and motion, and Kenny's explication in this section is a classic formulation and critique.

[Nathan Baldock · Rating 2 out of 5]

He’s pretty snarky about Descartes for someone who wrote a book about him

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview to supplement my knowledge for class.