Overview

"This book is a systematic study of Descartes' theory of causation and its relation to the medieval and early modern scholastic philosophy that provides its proper historical context. The argument presented here is that even though Descartes offered a dualistic ontology that differs radically from what we find in scholasticism, his views on causation were profoundly influenced by scholastic thought on this issue. This influence is evident not only in his affirmation in the Meditations of the abstract scholastic axioms that a cause must contain the reality of its effects and that conservation does not differ in reality from creation, but also in the details of the accounts of body-body interaction in his physics, of mind-body interaction in his psychology, and of the causation that he took to be involved in free human action. In contrast to those who have read Descartes as endorsing the ""occasionalist"" conclusion that God is the only real cause, a central thesis of this study is that he accepted what in the context of scholastic debates regarding causation is the antipode of occasionalism, namely, the view that creatures rather than God are the causal source of natural change. What emerges from the defense of this interpretation of Descartes is a new understanding of his contribution to modern thought on causation."

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9780199958504

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Reviews

<br> Descartes on Causation is among the most important contributions to Descartes scholarship in recent times. --Richard F. Hassing, The Review of Metaphysics<p><br> Schmaltz has produced an excellent book with much to teach us about all sorts of issues related to causation in Descartes. The breadth and depth of its scholarship is extremely impressive. I recommend it with enthusiasm to anyone interested in Descartes' metaphysics. --C. P. Ragland, PhilosophicalBooks<p><br> By tracing the roots and implications of Descartes's surprisingly rich and systematic metaphysics of causation, Schmaltz has given us a vivid new conception of what Descartes intended as a philosopher, where he succeeded, and where he failed. --Geoffrey Gorham, Dialogue<p><br> Tad Schmaltz's aim, in this wonderfully detailed and intricately argued book, is to reject the tendency to move towards an occasionalist reading of Descartes, and to show how the Cartesian system permits things in the world to have a genuine, if derivative, kind of causal power...Overall, Schmaltz sees himself as partly deconstructing a standard narrative of Descartes's view of causality, namely that it replaced the scholastic framework (based on the four Aristotelian causes) with the efficient causes required for his new mechanistic physics...What Schmaltz's superbly researched study demonstrates beyond doubt is that the break made by Descartes was very far from a clean one. --John Cottingham, Journal of the History of Philosophy<p><br>

Descartes on Causation is among the most important contributions to Descartes scholarship in recent times. --Richard F. Hassing, The Review of Metaphysics Schmaltz has produced an excellent book with much to teach us about all sorts of issues related to causation in Descartes. The breadth and depth of its scholarship is extremely impressive. I recommend it with enthusiasm to anyone interested in Descartes' metaphysics. --C. P. Ragland, Philosophical Books By tracing the roots and implications of Descartes's surprisingly rich and systematic metaphysics of causation, Schmaltz has given us a vivid new conception of what Descartes intended as a philosopher, where he succeeded, and where he failed. --Geoffrey Gorham, Dialogue Tad Schmaltz's aim, in this wonderfully detailed and intricately argued book, is to reject the tendency to move towards an occasionalist reading of Descartes, and to show how the Cartesian system permits things in the world to have a genuine, if derivative, kind of causal power...Overall, Schmaltz sees himself as partly deconstructing a standard narrative of Descartes's view of causality, namely that it replaced the scholastic framework (based on the four Aristotelian causes) with the efficient causes required for his new mechanistic physics...What Schmaltz's superbly researched study demonstrates beyond doubt is that the break made by Descartes was very far from a clean one. --John Cottingham, Journal of the History of Philosophy

Tad Schmaltz's rich and persuasive book advancwes significantly these debates by shedding new light on the origin, meaning, and influence of Descarte's philosophy of causation ... Schmaltz has given us a vivid new conception of what Descartes intended as a philosopher, where he succeeded, and where he failed. Geoffrey Gorham, Dialogue

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Tad M. Schmaltz is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan.

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