The Light of the Soul: Theories of Ideas in Leibniz, Malebranche, and Descartes

ISBN-13: 9780198238195 / Angielski / Miękka / 1998 / 224 str.

Nicholas Jolley

Opis

The concept of an "idea" played a central role in 17th-century theories of mind and knowledge, but philosophers were divided over the nature of ideas. This book examines an important, but little-known, debate on this question in the work of Leibniz, Malebranche, and Descartes. Looking closely at the issues involved, as well as the particular context in which the debate took place, Jolley demonstrates that the debate has serious implications for a number of major topics in 17th-century philosophy.

Recenzje

'Jolley has written a rich and useful book. Its concerns are important and he presents them in a remarkably accessible fashion. However problematic or controversial his claims may be, Jolley makes them clear. Very seldom does a book like this appear that will be of serious interest both to the most advanced, sophisticated researchers in the field and to those with only passing knowledge of the basic texts ... It is an engaging book, in both senses of the term. Its style and method of argument are not only prepossessing, but they also draw one into the dialectic, and in a philosophically productive way.' Thomas M. Lennon, The University of Western Ontario, Canadian Philosophical Reviews, V. XI, No. 5 - V. XII, No. 1 (Oct 91 - Jan 92)

O autorze

He is author of Leibniz and Locke: A Study of the New Essays on Human Understanding (Clarendon Press, 1984) and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Leibniz (1995).