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Cartesianism
(redirected from Cartesians)

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Cartesianism

Philosophical tradition derived from the philosophy of René Descartes. A form of rationalism, Cartesianism upholds a metaphysical dualism of two finite substances, mind and matter. The essence of mind is thinking; the essence of matter is extension in three dimensions. God is a third, infinite substance, whose essence is necessary existence. God unites minds with bodies to create a fourth, compound substance, man. Mind-body dualism generates problems concerning the possibility of causal interaction between mind and body and knowledge of the external world (see mind-body problem ), and various lines of Cartesianism developed from different proposed solutions to these problems. A historically important Cartesian theory holds that animals are essentially machines, lacking even the ability to feel pain. See also Arnold Geulincx; Nicolas de Malebranche; occasionalism.


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Tocqueville--an amazing fellow--said it 150 years ago: All the Americans I know are Cartesians without having read a word of Descartes.
Descartes' quarrels with philosophical friends such as Henricus LeRoy and such powerful enemies such as Gisbertus Voetius grew from personal struggles to great and public controversies, pitting Aristotelians against Cartesians of various stripes, each side battling for control of the scientific and philosophical curricula of the republic's newly established universities.
In the years following 1673 a work from a Huguenot ex-priest at a time when there was general persecution of Cartesians in France, was unlikely to be greeted with enthusiasm by the authorities.
 
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