Background
Huet was born on February 8, 1630 in Caen, France.
(French philosophy in the latter half of the seventeenth c...)
French philosophy in the latter half of the seventeenth century was dominated by reactions to Descartes. So influential was his philosophical legacy that it was practically impossible to write or discuss philosophy without taking a position in regard to the Cartesian worldview. Later philosophers either adapted Descartes system to fit other points of view, as in Malbranches well-known Christianized version of Cartesian philosophy in his Search After Truth, or they criticized aspects of Descartes philosophy that were perceived to threaten more traditional approaches to philosophy. In the latter camp was the work presented here, the Censura Philosophiae Cartesianae, by Pierre-Daniel Huet (1630-1721), an erudite cleric, teacher, philosopher, and scientist, and one of the most accomplished intellectuals of the age. Although his name is known to historians of the period, his main work, the Censura, while often enough mentioned, is seldom actually read. This is probably due to the fact that it was written in Latin and until now has never been translated. Thomas M. Lennon has done both historians and philosophers a great service by presenting this fully annotated translation of Huets magnum opus. The Censura is the most comprehensive, unrelenting, and devastating critique of Descartes ever published. Anticipating the issues that have occupied Cartesian scholarship for the past half-century, Huet argues at length that Descartes philosophy fails on many counts: his methodology of doubting; the reliability of his famous cogito ("I think, therefore I am"); clarity and distinctness as criteria of truth; his proofs for the existence of God; the circularity of Descartes main argument in the Meditations; and numerous other points. Complete with a long introduction explaining the circumstances, history, and importance of the work, a brief biography of its fascinating author, and helpful scholarly annotations, this first-ever translation of Huets Censura brings to light an important philosophical work that has been neglected for more than three hundred years. This is the first volume in the new series, JHP Books, published in cooperation with the Journal of the History of Philosophy.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591021022/?tag=2022091-20
(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.
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(A Philosophical Treatise Concerning the Weakness of Human...)
A Philosophical Treatise Concerning the Weakness of Human Understanding is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This publication is a professional scan from an original edition of the book, and of the best possible quality. This popular classic work by Pierre-Daniel Huet is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Pierre-Daniel Huet then we highly recommend this publication for your reading enjoyment.
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Huet was born on February 8, 1630 in Caen, France.
Huet was educated at the Jesuit school of Caen, and also received lessons from the Protestant pastor, Samuel Bochart.
By the age of twenty Huet was recognized as one of the most promising scholars of his time. In 1651 he went to Paris, where he formed a friendship with Gabriel Naudé, conservator of the Mazarin Library. In the following year Samuel Bochart, being invited by Queen Christina of Sweden to her court at Stockholm, took his friend Huet with him. This journey, in which he saw Leiden, Amsterdam and Copenhagen, as well as Stockholm, resulted chiefly in the discovery, in the Swedish royal library, of some fragments of Origen's Commentary on St Matthew, which gave Huet the idea of editing and translating Origen into Latin, a task he completed in 1668. He eventually quarrelled with Bochart, who accused him of having suppressed a line in Origen in the Eucharistic controversy. While working on Origen's Greek text, Huet wrote a separate treatise on translation history, theory, and practice, the "De optimo genere interpretandi" ("On the best kind of translating") in two books (first published 1660; 3rd and last ed. Amsterdam, 1683). Huet was also the cofounder of the Academie du Physique in Caen, the first provincial academy of science to be granted a royal charter (1668). Huet was the initial patron of the academy, and along with Andre Graindorge, directed the work of the group, which focused on the empirical study of nature, with a special emphasis on anatomy and dissections. Huet's presence was critical to the success of the academy, which floundered without his continued presence. He acted as head of the group from 1662-1667, and again in 1668, when he left Caen again for Paris. He also ended his financial support of the academy at this time, as it began to receive royal funding and direction from the royal representative in Normandy, Guy Chamillart. In Paris he entered into close relations with Jean Chapelain. During the famous "dispute of Ancients and Moderns", Huet took the side of the Ancients against Charles Perrault and Jean Desmarets. Among his friends at this period were Valentin Conrart and Paul Pellisson. His taste for mathematics led him to the study of astronomy. He next turned his attention to anatomy, and, being short-sighted, devoted his inquiries mainly to the question of vision and the formation of the eye. In the course of this study, he made more than 800 dissections. He then learned all that was then to be learned in chemistry, and wrote a Latin poem on salt. All this time he was a frequent visitor to the salons of Mlle de Scudéry and the studios of painters; his scientific researches did not interfere with his classical studies, for during this time he was discussing with Bochart the origin of certain medals, and was learning Syriac and Arabic under the Jesuit Adrien Parvilliers. Huet was admitted to the Académie française in 1674. He took holy orders in 1676, and two years later the king made him abbot of Aunay. In 1685 he became Bishop of Soissons, but after waiting for installation for four years he took the bishopric of Avranches instead. He exchanged the cares of his bishopric for what he thought would be the easier chair of the Abbey of Fontenay, but there he was vexed with continual lawsuits. At length he retired to the Jesuits' House in the Rue Saint-Antoine at Paris, where he died in 1721. His great library and manuscripts, after being bequeathed to the Jesuits, were bought by the king for the royal library.
(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
(A Philosophical Treatise Concerning the Weakness of Human...)
(French philosophy in the latter half of the seventeenth c...)
Member of the Académie française
