Descartes Belief, Scepticism and Virtue Routledge Studies in Seventeenth-Century Philosophy Series

Descartes is often regarded as the founder of modern philosophy, and is credited with placing at centre stage the question of what we know and how we know it. Descartes: Belief, Scepticism and Virtue seeks to reinsert his work and thought in its contemporary ethical and theological context. Richard Davies explores the much neglected notion of intellectual virtue as it applies to Descartes' inquiry as a whole. He examines the textual dynamics of Descartes' most famous writings in relation to background debates about human endeavour from Plato down to Descartes' own contemporaries. Bringing these materials together in a novel format, Davies argues for a new approach to Descartes' ideas of scepticism and the sciences. The book also offers fresh interpretations of key passages of the Meditations . Descartes: Belief, Scepticism and Virtue offers an original reassessment of some of the most important bodies of work in Western Philosophy.

Introduction Motivation, The plot, References PART I Structures 1 Intellectual virtues PART II Excess 2 Reason and virtue in the Passions 4 The control of credulity 5 Reason, assent and eternal truth PART III Defect 6 The modes of scepticism 7 The form of scepticism PART IV The mean 8 Tota methodus 9 Rectitude and science 10 What rectitude permits11 What rectitude forbids, Afterword

Richard Davies is Professor of the History of Philosophy at the University of Bergamo, Italy