Descartes's Fictions

Reading Philosophy with Poetics

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Modern, Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism
Cover of the book Descartes's Fictions by Emma Gilby, OUP Oxford
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Emma Gilby ISBN: 9780192567918
Publisher: OUP Oxford Publication: March 15, 2019
Imprint: OUP Oxford Language: English
Author: Emma Gilby
ISBN: 9780192567918
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Publication: March 15, 2019
Imprint: OUP Oxford
Language: English

Descartes's Fictions traces common movements in early modern philosophy and literary method. Emma Gilby reassesses the significance of Descartes's writing by bringing his philosophical output into contact with the literary treatises, exempla, and debates of his age. She argues that humanist theorizing about poetics represents a vital intellectual context for Descartes's work. She offers readings of the controversies to which this poetic theory gives rise, with particular reference to the genre of tragicomedy, questions of verisimilitude or plausibility, and the figures of Guez de Balzac and Pierre Corneille. Drawing on what Descartes says about, and to, his many contemporaries and correspondents embedded in the early modern republic of letters, this volume shows that poetics provides a repository of themes and images to which he returns repeatedly: fortune, method, error, providence, passion, and imagination, for instance. Like the poets and theorists of his age, Descartes is also drawn to the forms of attention that people may bring to his work. This interest finds expression in the mature Cartesian metaphysics of the Meditations, as well as, later, in the moral philosophy of his correspondence with Elisabeth of Bohemia or the Passions of the Soul. This volume thus bridges the gap between Cartesian criticism and late-humanist literary culture in France.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Descartes's Fictions traces common movements in early modern philosophy and literary method. Emma Gilby reassesses the significance of Descartes's writing by bringing his philosophical output into contact with the literary treatises, exempla, and debates of his age. She argues that humanist theorizing about poetics represents a vital intellectual context for Descartes's work. She offers readings of the controversies to which this poetic theory gives rise, with particular reference to the genre of tragicomedy, questions of verisimilitude or plausibility, and the figures of Guez de Balzac and Pierre Corneille. Drawing on what Descartes says about, and to, his many contemporaries and correspondents embedded in the early modern republic of letters, this volume shows that poetics provides a repository of themes and images to which he returns repeatedly: fortune, method, error, providence, passion, and imagination, for instance. Like the poets and theorists of his age, Descartes is also drawn to the forms of attention that people may bring to his work. This interest finds expression in the mature Cartesian metaphysics of the Meditations, as well as, later, in the moral philosophy of his correspondence with Elisabeth of Bohemia or the Passions of the Soul. This volume thus bridges the gap between Cartesian criticism and late-humanist literary culture in France.

More books from OUP Oxford

Cover of the book Re-Imagining Democracy in the Mediterranean, 1780-1860 by Emma Gilby
Cover of the book Mental Health and Care Homes by Emma Gilby
Cover of the book The Legal Construction of Personal Work Relations by Emma Gilby
Cover of the book Towards Gender Equity in Development by Emma Gilby
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Law and Governance by Emma Gilby
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Generality in Mathematics and the Sciences by Emma Gilby
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Holinshed's Chronicles by Emma Gilby
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of the History of Ethics by Emma Gilby
Cover of the book Cyber Operations and the Use of Force in International Law by Emma Gilby
Cover of the book Geology: A Very Short Introduction by Emma Gilby
Cover of the book A Grain of Faith by Emma Gilby
Cover of the book The United States and Western Europe Since 1945 by Emma Gilby
Cover of the book Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction by Emma Gilby
Cover of the book Global Bioethics by Emma Gilby
Cover of the book Criminology: A Very Short Introduction by Emma Gilby
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy