The Flight to Objectivity: Essays on Cartesianism and Culture (SUNY Series in Philosophy (Paperback))

The modern mindset did not arise out of a vacuum but out of a multiplicity of changes that took place as Europe transitioned from the medieval civilization to something very different, and yet at the same time very much moulded by what went before. Most people are quite unaware of the huge part that philosophy has played in forming the modern/postmodern culture we have today. This book provides a valuable explanation of the thinking of one of the most important of the modern philosophers, Descartes. The factors that influenced the incredible yet highly influential conclusions he reached are examined in a balanced way by the author. Descartes drew on and adapted thinking on the cosmology of the time, on Greek philosophy, on Renaisance and Reformation lines of thought, on thinking on issues of the human will, the soul and the body, etc. The book is not really an overview of his ideas; rather it is more a set of essays on these influencing factors, exploring the tracks Descartes went down in his quest for certainty. The modern way of thinking that arose has had an immense effect on the way the whole world has developed over the last 400 years. The final chapter of the book focuses on one critical area: the unfortunate consequences on all that was and is regarded as the female, from mother nature to human womanhood.