あらゆるものを疑い続けた末に、少なくともそう考えている時の自分自身は何者かでなければならない、という結論に達した哲学者ルネ・デカルト（1596-1650年）が残した言葉が、かの有名な「我思う、ゆえに我あり」です。デカルトは活動期間が非常に短かったにもかかわらず、近代哲学の祖と呼ばれ、哲学と科学の分野に大きく貢献しました。物理学への新しい数学的アプローチを提唱し、自らの形而上学を発展させたデカルトの世界にどっぷり浸ることのできる入門書です。(cf. Metaphysics, #326; A Discourse on the Method: Of Correctly Conducting One's Reason and Seeking Truth in the Sciences (Oxford World's Classics) ほか)
   

• The best introduction to Descartes aimed at non-specialists
• Descartes is considered the founder of modern philosophy, and his work is studied in all undergraduate philosophy courses
• He is best known for the statement 'Cogito, ergo sum' ('I think, therefore I am')
• Takes account of Descartes's scientific work as well as his philosophy, including his investigations into physics, mathematics, psychology, and optics

 
René Descartes (1596-1650) had a remarkably short working life, and his output was small, yet his contributions to philosophy and science have endured to the present day. He is perhaps best known for his statement 'Cogito, ergo sum'. By a mixture of 'intuition' and 'deduction' Descartes derived from the 'cogito' principle first the existence of a material world. 

But Descartes did not intend the metaphysics to stand apart from his scientific work, which included important investigations into physics, mathematics, psychology, and optics. In this book Tom Sorrell shows that Descartes was, above all, an advocate and practitioner of a new mathematical approach to physics, and that he developed his metaphysics to support his programme in the sciences.