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The Good Life in the Scientific Revolution: Descartes, Pascal, Leibniz, and the
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The Good Life in the Scientific Revolution: Descartes, Pascal, Leibniz, and the Cultivation of Virtue Hardcover - 2006

by Matthew L. Jones


From the publisher

Amid the unrest, dislocation, and uncertainty of seventeenth-century Europe, readers seeking consolation and assurance turned to philosophical and scientific books that offered ways of conquering fears and training the mind--guidance for living a good life.

The Good Life in the Scientific Revolution presents a triptych showing how three key early modern scientists, Ren Descartes, Blaise Pascal, and Gottfried Leibniz, envisioned their new work as useful for cultivating virtue and for pursuing a good life. Their scientific and philosophical innovations stemmed in part from their understanding of mathematics and science as cognitive and spiritual exercises that could create a truer mental and spiritual nobility. In portraying the rich contexts surrounding Descartes' geometry, Pascal's arithmetical triangle, and Leibniz's calculus, Matthew L. Jones argues that this drive for moral therapeutics guided important developments of early modern philosophy and the Scientific Revolution.

Details

  • Title The Good Life in the Scientific Revolution: Descartes, Pascal, Leibniz, and the Cultivation of Virtue
  • Author Matthew L. Jones
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition annotated editio
  • Pages 336
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher University of Chicago Press
  • Date October 1, 2006
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Annotated, Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780226409542 / 0226409546
  • Weight 1.48 lbs (0.67 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.1 x 6.32 x 1.07 in (23.11 x 16.05 x 2.72 cm)
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 17th Century
    • Chronological Period: Modern
  • Library of Congress subjects Descartes, Rene, Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2006040491
  • Dewey Decimal Code 509.032

About the author

Matthew L. Jones is associate professor of history at Columbia University.