Meditations and Other Metaphysical Writings »

A new translation of Descartes' masterpiece, along with selections of his other late writings

The six Meditations and accompanying selections from the Objections and Replies provide a definitive statement of what Descartes intended as the foundations of his whole philosophy. His project was to resolve the epistemological questions brought about by the prevailing skepticism of his age; to build, from the basis of self-awareness (Cogito, ergo sum), through the notion of a benevolent God, to a systematic and novel approach to metaphysics; and to construct a secure starting-point for science.

The first part of a new two-volume edition of Descartes in Penguin Classics, this volume consists not only of a new translation of the original Latin text and extensive selections from the Objections and Replies, but also relevant correspondence from the period 1643-49, Part One of The Principles of Philosophy, and Comments on a Certain Manifesto, as examples of Descartes' other metaphysical writings from the period 1641-49.