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Descartes' Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason
Paperback
PhilosophyReligion General General World History
ISBN13: 9780307275660
Publisher: Vintage
Published: Aug 25 2009
Pages: 336
Weight: 0.70
Height: 0.69 Width: 5.28 Depth: 7.98
Language: English
Sixteen years after René Descartes' death in Stockholm in 1650, a pious French ambassador exhumed the remains of the controversial philosopher to transport them back to Paris. Thus began a 350-year saga that saw Descartes' bones traverse a continent, passing between kings, philosophers, poets, and painters.
But as Russell Shorto shows in this deeply engaging book, Descartes' bones also played a role in some of the most momentous episodes in history, which are also part of the philosopher's metaphorical remains: the birth of science, the rise of democracy, and the earliest debates between reason and faith. Descartes' Bones is a flesh-and-blood story about the battle between religion and rationalism that rages to this day.
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