Rationalism, Platonism and God â Michael Ayers

This volume (No. 149 of the Proceedings of the British Academy) contains the three papers delivered at the Dawes Hicks Symposium of 2004 sponsored by the British Academy, together with commentators' responses. The purpose of the symposium was to examine the connection between the early modern rationalist philosophical systems of Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz and the mainstream ‘heavily theologized’ Platonic tradition which influenced each of these philosophers. All of the symposiasts are well suited for a conversation of this nature, since each is a specialist in early modern philosophy. In his introduction to the book, Ayers points out that until recently there has been very little treatment in English of the relationship between Platonism and the rationalists' theories. These six philosophers from the UK have made an admirable contribution to this neglected topic. John Cottingham's essay ‘Plato's Sun and Descartes’ Stove: Contemplation and Control in Cartesian Philosophy’ focuses on continuities and discontinuities with Platonic philosophical themes in Descartes' cosmology, metaphysics and ethics. Cottingham argues that though Descartes agrees with Plato that the physical universe is ordered and governed by a rational divine power, he disagrees with the Platonic view that divine values and purposes are discernible in the created order. Cottingham concludes from this observation that Descartes' natural philosophy is only superficially Platonist, and that Descartes' scientific mindset involves the modern goal of understanding the laws of nature for the sake of controlling the physical world for the benefit of humanity. On the other hand, Cottingham's examination of Descartes' reasoning about God in Meditations leads him to affirm that Descartes' first philosophy is substantially Platonist. He characterizes Descartes' metaphysical mindset as contemplative, since it emphasizes the classical and mediaeval goal of submission to the good through enlightenment. Cottingham thinks these two mindsets create a tension in Descartes' ethics, since Descartes endorses both the science‐based control of the passions in the development of virtue and ‘the use of our God‐given free will to bring our lives into conformity with divinely generated truth and goodness’ (p. 40)

Aristotelianism · Atomism · Cartesianism · Contemplation · Epistemology · Intellect · Metaphysics · Natural Philosophy · Platonism · Rationality · Thomism · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Philosophy