Cartesian theodicy
Subtitle: Descartes' quest for certitude
By: by Zbigniew Janowski.
Series: International archives of the history of ideas =; Archives internationales d'histoire des idées;; 168; Archives internationales d'histoire des idées ;; 168.
Publisher: Kluwer Academic
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Dordrecht; Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 181
Subjects: Descartes, René, 1596-1650.; Theodicy -- History of doctrines -- 17th century.; Certainty.
Description: "Almost all interpreters of Cartesian philosophy have hitherto focused on the epistemological aspect of Descartes' thought. In his Cartesian Theodicy, Janowski demonstrates that Descartes' epistemological problems are merely rearticulations of theological questions.

For example, Descartes' attempt to define the role of God in man's cognitive fallibility is a reiteration of an old argument that points out the incongruity between the existence of God and evil, and his pivotal question "whence error?" is shown here to be a rephrasing of the question "whence evil?" The answer Descartes gives in the Meditations is actually a reformulation of the answer found in St. Augustine's De Libero Arbitrio and the Confessions.

Both in his Cartesian Theodicy as well as his Index Augustine-Cartesien, Textes et Commentaire Janowski shows that the entire Cartesian metaphysics can - and should - be read within the context of Augustinian thought."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [163]-177) and index.