Spirits and clocks : machine and organism in Descartes / Dennis Des Chene.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2001Description: xiii, 181 pages : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 0801437644
  • 9780801437649
Subject(s): NLM classification:
  • 2001 I-446
  • QT 104
Contents:
Tales of the Bete-Machine -- Self-Movers -- Cycles -- The feu sans lumiere -- Where Do Machines Come From? -- The First Circle -- The Nervous System -- Flows and Resistances, Fluids and Solids -- Descartes' Tasks -- The Uses of Usus -- Naming of Parts -- The Assumption of Normality -- Machines, Mechanisms, Bodies, Organs -- Tools of Knowledge -- The Analysis of Capacities -- Instrument and Organ -- Artifacts -- Jeux d'artifice -- Simulation, Illusion, and Questions of Method -- The Double Twist -- The Scope of Intention -- Unity of the Body -- Against Ends -- Physical Unity -- Dispositional Unity -- Functional and Intentional Unity -- Substantial Unity -- Primary Sources -- Secondary Sources.
Review: "Although the basis of modern biology is Cartesian, Descartes' theories of biology have been more often ridiculed than studied. Yet, Dennis Des Chene demonstrates, the themes, arguments, and vocabulary of his mechanistic biology pervade the writings of many seventeenth-century authors. In his illuminating account of Cartesian physiology in its historical context, Des Chene focuses on the philosopher's innovative reworking of that field, including the nature of life, the problem of generation, and the concepts of health and illness." "Spirits and Clocks continues Des Chene's exploration - begun in his previous book, Life's Form - of the scholastic and Cartesian sciences as well as the dialogue between these two worldviews."--Jacket.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Status Date due Barcode
Books Books Jost Bürgi Library Reading Room QP21 .D47 2001 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 31560000011201

Includes bibliographical references (pages 159-175) and index.

Tales of the Bete-Machine -- Self-Movers -- Cycles -- The feu sans lumiere -- Where Do Machines Come From? -- The First Circle -- The Nervous System -- Flows and Resistances, Fluids and Solids -- Descartes' Tasks -- The Uses of Usus -- Naming of Parts -- The Assumption of Normality -- Machines, Mechanisms, Bodies, Organs -- Tools of Knowledge -- The Analysis of Capacities -- Instrument and Organ -- Artifacts -- Jeux d'artifice -- Simulation, Illusion, and Questions of Method -- The Double Twist -- The Scope of Intention -- Unity of the Body -- Against Ends -- Physical Unity -- Dispositional Unity -- Functional and Intentional Unity -- Substantial Unity -- Primary Sources -- Secondary Sources.

"Although the basis of modern biology is Cartesian, Descartes' theories of biology have been more often ridiculed than studied. Yet, Dennis Des Chene demonstrates, the themes, arguments, and vocabulary of his mechanistic biology pervade the writings of many seventeenth-century authors. In his illuminating account of Cartesian physiology in its historical context, Des Chene focuses on the philosopher's innovative reworking of that field, including the nature of life, the problem of generation, and the concepts of health and illness." "Spirits and Clocks continues Des Chene's exploration - begun in his previous book, Life's Form - of the scholastic and Cartesian sciences as well as the dialogue between these two worldviews."--Jacket.

31560000011201 700

history of science, philosophical, machines vs.organism

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