Descartes' Meditations

This unique collection of background material to Descartes' Meditations has been translated from the original French and Latin. The texts gathered here illustrate the kinds of principles, assumptions, and philosophical methods that were commonplace when Descartes was growing up. The selections are from: Francisco Sanches, Christopher Clavius, Pierre de la Ramee (Petrus Ramus), Francisco Suarez, Pierre Charron, Eustachius a Sancto Paulo, Scipion Dupleix, Marin Mersenne, Pierre Gassendi, Francois de la Mother le Vayer, Charles Sorel, and Jean-Baptiste Morin. The purpose of the series Cambridge Philosophical Texts in Context is to allow students to comprehend the context in which these texts emerged by providing the primary materials that are their source and intellectual background.