Figures of Descartes in XIXth century France. International Meeting organized by the Research Group on the Origins of Contemporary Philosophy, PU-SP Sao Paulo.

Cartesian Mind, London, Routledge. (Routledge Philosophical Minds), 2019

In this essay, I will retrace the principal steps and modalities of these grounding philosophical narratives that make use of the figure of Descartes. I will then discuss, in conclusion, their principal historiographical and philosophical stakes.

Annals of Philosophy, Social and Human Disciplines, 2016

Descartes is considered to be the founder of modern rationalism. This is a clear statement which, however, does not show the manner in which rationalism as such appeared in the history of science, taking into account the turmoil of the Renaissance centuries, the significance of the Reform and the birth of modern science. As a founder of a new metaphysics, Descartes, through his work, remains par excellence the case in which the scholastic and Renaissance aftermaths as well as the Reform mutations are mixed in a new synthesis that will be called modernity. This study focuses on reinterpreting Cartesianism from this perspective in the vast context of modernity's metaphysical significance – it is a hypothesis that will need to be developed not only by means of hermeneutical instruments but, especially, by means of those instruments belonging to the history of culture and anthropology.

British Journal for the History of Philosophy. "The Historiography of Philosophy, 1800-1950", Special Issue, Leo Catana and Mogens Laerke (eds.), forthcoming, 2020

The writings by the 'state philosophers' of nineteenth-century France are often seen, either as entirely driven by political or ideological concerns, or reduced to mere history of philosophy. Hence, ironically, those who established the philosophical canon that still now informs philosophy teaching in France were themselves excluded from that canon. Using the heuristic concept of a philosophical figure, this contribution intends to show how, for these philosophers, historiography represented a seemingly inoffensive, but in reality extremely efficient, means of searching out philosophical alternatives to the institutionally dominant philosophy of Victor Cousin (1792-1867). Focalizing on the almost forgotten case of Joseph-Marie Degérando (1772-1842), I show how he used the philosophical figure of Descartes and how he used it to counter Cousin.

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 2012

Journal of the History of Philosophy, 1997

2020

Considered an intimate instrument of expressing ideas and arguing different theoretical stances, Descartes’ philosophical correspondence is widely recognised as a solid introduction to the historical and scientific aspects of his significantly writings. Nevertheless, the epistolary tradition associated with the Cartesian corpus of philosophical texts reveals a privileged access to certain problems claimed by the Republic of Letters, placing Descartes’ intellectual attitudes as reactionary approaches of major European events, such as Galileo Galilei’s condemnation by the Inquisition, arousing a high caution in launching potential contradictory thesis to the dogma of the Catholic Church, or the successful experiments of Pascal, that created a compatible scientific area with Descartes’ assumptions from The Principles of Philosophy.

This is the eighth in series of brief, analytic biographies of the 'Top-Nine' thinkers, whose thoughts have powerfully influenced large numbers of people across extended time scales. They are all reviewed here in the order of their birth. Negative thinkers (e.g. Hitler, Stalin) are ignored, while 'Mythic' talkers (like Jesus) are also ignored as little direct written information is available. Descartes is given semi-pride of place as the first of the modern philosophers considered here; not that he was the first modern philosopher (there are several worthy of that label in the European tradition since the Medieval ones), such as Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes but they have become the subject more of specialists, whereas Rene Descartes still has a magical hold on the academic philosophers and is still often the first to be introduced as such to new undergraduates. As a mathematician, Descartes fell into to ancient trap of believing that the basic propositions of mathematics were certain. He is infamous for inventing his 'Method of Doubt' and constructing his whole potage on the notion that he was certain of his own existence. He certainly built a foundation for much academic musings since then, persuading many that he was the 'first rationalist'. At the very least, he joined the many mathematicians who also confused philosophy and mathematics and would be delighted to see the role it still plays in science. Ironically, today Descartes is more acknowledged for his mathematics contributions than for his philosophy.

Cultural Studies of Science Education, 2011