Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Descartes and the Meditations

Description

This is the third of these Routledge Guidebooks that I've purchased, and they have all been extremely good. Hatfield has written extensively on Descartes and knows his work inside and out. He also provides the background and context that show what Descartes was up to, and what was at issue in those days that drove his agenda. Long story short, he was out to overthrow Aristotle in the interest of improving empirical science, not to establish some world-denying skepticism. The Meditations are an attempt to first wipe the slate of what we think we know and then, by the end of the 6th Meditation, to have trained the reader in an entirely new way of thinking about the world. The Meditations are a narrative meant to gradually bring you along on that project, which was a tricky and even dangerous one for Descartes, because Aristotle was the Church's intellectual saint.

If you haven't read the Meditations before, or only long ago, I recommend reading Hatfield's treatment of each one first. If you read Descartes first, you are likely to find that Hatfield has added so much to your understanding that you'll be going back for a second read, anyway. I haven't read any other full-length expositions of the Meditations, but I can't imagine how anyone could do a better job than Hatfield has done here.