The young Descartes : nobility, rumor, and war /

The young Descartes : nobility, rumor, and war /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Cook, Harold John, author.
Imprint:Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2018.
©2018
Description:xvi, 276 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Language:English
Subject:
Descartes, René, -- 1596-1650.
Descartes, René, -- 1596-1650.
Philosophers -- France -- Biography.
Philosophers.
France.
Biography.
Biographies.
Format: Print Book
Local Note:University of Chicago Library's UCPress copy has original dust jacket.
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11592959
Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:9780226462967
022646296X
9780226540092
Notes:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:"Rene Descartes is best known as the man who coined the phrase I think, therefore I am. But though he is remembered most as a thinker, Descartes, the man, was no disembodied mind, theorizing at great remove from the worldly affairs and concerns of his time. Far from it. As a young nobleman, Descartes was a soldier and courtier who took part in some of the greatest events of his generation--a man who would not seem out of place in the pages of The Three Musketeers. In The Young Descartes, Harold J. Cook tells the story of a man who did not set out to become an author or philosopher--Descartes began publishing only after the age of forty. Rather, for years he traveled throughout Europe in diplomacy and at war. He was present at the opening events of the Thirty Years' War in Central Europe and Northern Italy, and was also later involved in struggles within France. Enduring exile, scandals, and courtly intrigue, on his journeys Descartes associated with many of the most innovative free thinkers and poets of his day, as well as great noblemen, noblewomen, and charismatic religious reformers. In his personal life he expressed love for men as well as women and was accused of libertinism by his adversaries..."--Publisher description.
Standard no.:40028062585
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
  • Part 1. Mysteries: Remains of a Hidden Life
  • Words on Paper
  • In Search of a Person behind the Words
  • Part 2. A France of Broken Families
  • Families
  • Politiques
  • Breaking with His Father
  • Aristocratic Paris
  • Libertine Paris
  • A Political Education
  • Part 3. Gearing Up for War: Mathematical Inspirations
  • Breda
  • Military Engineering
  • Meeting Isaac Beeckman
  • The Holy Roman Empire
  • Anxious Dreams
  • Curious Meetings
  • Part 4. War and Diplomacy in Europe
  • Into Bohemia
  • To Hungary and Disaster
  • The Baltic and Return to The Netherlands
  • Again in France
  • Paris and the Rosicrucian Scare
  • The Valtellina and Rome
  • Part 5. The Struggle for France
  • Problems with the Cardinal
  • The Campaign for La Rochelle
  • Confrontation and Departure
  • The Meetings
  • Confrontation and Conversation
  • Becoming a Sectarian
  • Feeling Threatened
  • Exile
  • Part 6. Not Yet Concluded
  • Chronological Table
  • List of Early Correspondence and Publications
  • Acknowledgments
  • For Further Reading
  • Notes
  • Index

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