Descartes René - Meditations on first philosophy: with selections from the Objections and replies

OXFORD WORLDS CLASSICS

MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY

REN DESCARTES was born at La Haye near Tours on 31 March 1596. He was educated at the Jesuit Collge de la Flche in Anjou, and at the University of Poitiers, where he took a Licenciate in Law in 1616. Two years later he entered the army of Prince Maurice of Nassau in Holland, and met a local schoolmaster, Isaac Beeckman, who fostered his interest in mathematics and physics. After further travels in Europe he settled in Paris in 1625, and came into contact with scientists, theologians, and philosophers in the circle of the Minim friar Marin Mersenne. At the end of 1928 Descartes left for Holland, which he made his home until 1648; he devoted himself to carrying forward the mathematical, scientific, and philosophical work he had begun in Paris. When he learned of the condemnation of Galileo for heresy in 1633, he abandoned his plans to publish a treatise on physics, and under pressure from his friends consented to have the Discourse on the Method printed, with three accompanying essays on topics in which he had made discoveries. In 1641 his Meditations appeared, setting out the metaphysical underpinnings of his physical theories; these were accompanied by objections written by contemporary philosophers, and Descartess replies to them. His writings provoked controversy in both France and Holland, where his scientific ideas were banned in one university; his works, however (including the Principles of Philosophy of 1644) continued to be published, and to bring him notoriety and renown. In 1648 he accepted an invitation from Queen Christina of Sweden to settle in Stockholm; it was there he died of pneumonia on 11 February 1650.

MICHAEL MORIARTY is Centenary Professor of French Literature and Thought at Queen Mary, University of London. Among his publications are Early Modern French Thought: The Age of Suspicion (2003) and Fallen Nature, Fallen Selves: Early Modern French Thought II (2006).

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OXFORD WORLDS CLASSICS

REN DESCARTES

With Selections from the Objections and Replies

Translated with an Introduction and Notes by
MICHAEL MORIARTY

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Michael Moriarty 2008

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Data available

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Descartes, Ren, 15961650.
[Meditationes de prima philosophia. English]
Meditations on first philosophy: with selections from the objections and replies/
Ren Descartes translated with an introduction and notes by Michael Moriarty.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 9780192806963
1. First philosophy. 2. GodProof, Ontological. 3. Methodology. 4. Knowledge,
Theory of. I. Moriarty, Mike. II. Title.
B1853.E5M67 2008
194dc22
2007044519

Typeset by Cepha Imaging Private Ltd., Bangalore, India
Printed in Great Britain by
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ISBN 9780192806963

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I have many people to thank for assistance with this edition. In particular, I would like to thank Terence Cave, Hannah Dawson, Susan James, Ian Maclean, and Morag Shiach for their generous assistance and support. I am most grateful to the anonymous readers for Oxford University Press for their valuable comments and suggestions. As series editor, Judith Luna has been an unfailing source of guidance and encouragement. Thanks also to Jeff New for his painstaking and vigilant copy-editing. As always, my colleagues at Queen Mary, University of London, have been a pleasure to work with and alongside. This work was begun in the last stages of a research leave jointly funded by Queen Mary and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. I am most grateful for this support.

Anyone working on Descartes knows how much he or she owes to the generations of scholars in various disciplines and from many countries whose work has illuminated the life, background, and above all the texts of this author. I hope that my own debts are, however imperfectly, acknowledged in the notes.