Descartes as a moral thinker
Subtitle: Christianity, technology, nihilism
By: Gary Steiner.
Series: JHP books series
Publisher: Humanity Books
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Amherst, N.Y
Language: eng
Number of pages: 352
Subjects: Descartes, René, 1596-1650 -- Ethics.; Ethics, Modern -- 17th century.
Description: "In Descartes as a Moral Thinker, Steiner examines this tension between the "angelic" aspirations in Descartes's Christian commitments and the "earthly" or technological aspirations reflected in his endeavor to use reason to ground scientific practice. Steiner provides a close analysis of all Descartes's texts and correspondence that bear on morality. By placing Descartes's work in historical context, Steiner demonstrates Descartes's indebtedness not only to Galileo and Bacon in developing his conception of autonomous human reason but also to Augustine and Aquinas in conceptualizing the human condition and the role of belief in God. Providing a detailed survey of German, French, and English scholarship on Descartes, Steiner concludes with an in-depth examination of contemporary debates about secularization, nihilism, and modernity in such thinkers as Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Hans Blumenberg, and Karl Lowith. Steiner shows how Descartes's own ambivalence about the relation between faith and reason can shed light on contemporary controversies regarding what Blumenberg calls "the legitimacy of the modern age.""--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: "Published in cooperation with the Journal of the history of philosophy."
Includes bibliographical references (p. 335-348) and index.
Table of contents: title: Descartes's moral ideal : between Thomism and deontology; title: Christianity and Descartes's angelic ideal; title: Descartes's earthly moraltiy; title: The mastery of nature; title: Descartes and the problem of nihilism.