Principia philosophiae cartesianae
| Principia philosophiae cartesianae | |
|---|---|
First edition title page of Spinoza's PPC
Published in 1663. |
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| Author(s) | Benedictus de Spinoza |
Principia philosophiae cartesianae or Renati Descartes Principia Philosophiae, More Germetrico Demonstrata is a philosophical work of Baruch Spinoza published in Amsterdam in 1663 including its appendix, Cogitata Metaphisica. This work is intended to consist interpretation of Principles of Philosophy by René Descartes, but de facto consists Spinoza's own cosmology, ontology and theology. Principia philosophiae has three Parts and each Part is consisted of Definitions, Axiom or Lemma and Propositions with those Demonstrations. This structue of this work is similar to his later Ethics.
Principia Philosophiae
At first, at Prolegomenon of Part I, Spinoza esteem philosophical investigation of Descartes that;
- 1.To abolish all prejudices
- 2. To find fundament, by which all superstructure are.
- 3. To remove cause of errors.
- 4. To understand all clearly and distinctly.
And considers that the doubt of Descartes is unlike Scepticism that only doubt all, but to liberate our mind from all prejudices. And he identifies Cogito ergo sum of Descartes Ego sum cogitans (I am a thinking being) as the substance.
Cogitata Metaphisica, the Appendix
After "Principia Philosophiae", Spinoza add Cogitata Metaphysica (metaphysical cogitation) as the appendix consisted two Parts; Part I with 6 Chapters treats of real being, rational being, essence, existence, idea, potential, necessity, contingency, duration, time and other ontological matters. Parts II with 12 Chapters treats of character and essence of God and the last Chapter treat of human mind, which is also akin to the thought of his Ethics.
