Descartes’s Theory of Mind [Book Review]

Review of Metaphysics 58 (2):430-433 (2004)
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Abstract

In this book Clarke offers an interesting spin on Descartes: rather than see him simply as a substance dualist who offers a very poor account of the mind, Clarke sees him as a scientist pushing scientific explanation of the mind as far as it will go, and only exiting that path as a substance dualist when explanation has reached its limits. In this light Descartes comes out as an impressively successful thinker rather than as a blatantly poor one. Clarke is much to be commended for this reorientation of the bigger picture; but this book is even more to be commended for its detailed and thorough account of the various elements of Descartes’s theory of mind. In being nearly a compendium of Descartes’s views about various mental phenomena, as well as including sketches of some of the resulting controversies about these views, Clarke’s book will be of interest both to scholar and novice alike.

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Andrew Pessin
Connecticut College

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