In The Passions of the Soul Descartes proclaims his intention to explain the passions "only as a Physicist," and titles Part I "About the passions in general, and incidentally about the whole nature of man"--not an incidental item. Two questions orient the present inquiry: What does Descartes mean by "the whole nature of man," and how does a general theory of the human emotions based on his physics account for it? Not surprisingly, Descartes does not fulfill the letter of his intention; rather, he explains the passions "only partly] as a Physicist." The other part of his study--irreducible...

This study of the questions of final causality is arranged in historical order from Aristotle to contemporary anthropic-principle cosmology. It discusses such teleological issues as chance and providence, and Aristotle's definition of nature in relation to extrinsic efficient and final causes.