DESCARTES (René). Meditationes de prima philosophia, in quib - Lot 35

DESCARTES (René). Meditationes de prima philosophia, in quibus Dei existentia, animæ humanæ a corpore distinctio, demonstrantur. His adjunctæ sunt variæ objectiones doctorum virorum in istas de Deo anima demonstrationes; cum responsionibus authoris. Amstelodami, apud Ludovicum Elzevirium, 1642. 2parties, in one small volume in-12, (20)-496-212pp. including a special title for the second part, vellum overlay, vestige of parchment ties, title in ink on spine; spine stained, stains and marginal spotting (contemporary binding). Second edition, largely original, printed in Leiden by Frans de Heger for the bookseller Lodewijk Elzevier in Amsterdam. The original had appeared in 1641, also in Latin, and the first French translation would not see the light of day until 1647 under the title "Les Méditations métaphysiques touchant la première philosophie". It includes various corrections and over 200 pages of additions. The Meditations proper occupy pp.1-95, and are followed by 6 sets of objections, each followed by answers (pp.96-496), mainly concerning definitions, axioms and postulates relating to the existence of God and the distinction between soul and body. A second part, in the original edition (212pp.), delivers a seventh series of objections, formulated by the Jesuit Pierre Bourdin, again with answers from René Descartes, as well as a letter from the latter on the same point addressed to another Jesuit, Jacques Dinet. The most detailed development of his philosophy as presented in the Discourse on Method (1637). In it, René Descartes presents his thinking as a reconstruction of the original metaphysics, but in a new terminology. Above all, he develops a systematic philosophy that also questions the choice of questions and the method to be adopted to answer them. He takes into account Aristotelian philosophy and Scholastic thought, but freely develops his thinking outside this tradition. Rare.