Descartes' Philosophical Revolution: A Reassessment

Preface 1. Introduction 2. Descartes' Theory of Perception 2.1 Descartes' Theory of Perception, from The World On 2.2 Descartes' Justification of his Theory 2.3 The Innovation in Descartes' Theory of Perception 3. The Development of Descartes' Theory of Perception 3.1 Descartes' Theory of Perception in the Rules 3.2 Galileo's Influence 3.3 Analytic Geometry and Representational Perception 4. Soul and Physiology 4.1 The Living Body according to Descartes 4.2 Life without Soul, Soul without Life 4.3 The Physiologists' Reception of Descartes' Conception of Life 5. Mind, Machine, Sensation 5.1 Mind and Automaton 5.2 Animals without a Mind 5.3 Painless Pain, Blind Sight 6. Descartes and the Metaphysical Project 6.1 Bérulle and Descartes 6.2 Why was the Meditations Written? 6.3 Augustine and Descartes: Methodological Preliminaries 7. The Meditations: Borrowed Themes with Original Variations 7.1 The First Meditation and the Dream Argument 7.2 Cogito: ergo sum or ergo vivo? 7.3 The Essence of the Wax, and of Bodies Generally 8. Epilogue