Modern Philosophy : The Seventeenth And Eighteenth Centuries

This introductory text for students gives a thematic survey of the ideas of the major philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries. Topics include Perception And Ideas, Matter And Motion, Necessity And Freedom, And Minds and persons.

Modern Philosophy is an exploration of the ideas of six major thinkers from Descartes to Hume. It takes a fresh and engaging look at the common themes that dominate this period, as well as examining the differences in the work of the six philosophers.

Through vivid and witty prose, Richard Francks skilfully presents ideas that have informed the development of philosophy as we know it, and which present a challenge to beliefs and attitudes that most of us now share. In this work we find the source of modern philosophical inquiry - questions such as the existence of God, the Mind and Body problem, the idea of self, and the existence of the world had their birth in these texts - as well as broader questions about political and social philosophy.

Thinkers discussed:

Rene Descartes
Baruch Spinoza
Gottfried Willhelm Leibniz
John Locke
George Berkeley
David Hume

This will be ideal for anybody coming to the ideas of these philosophers for the first time.