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A New York Times Notable BookSixteen 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.
Making the case for one or another historical moment as the starting point of modernity is a familiar hook for writers of grand chronicles…Russell Shorto's Descartes' Bones is a smart, elegantly written contribution to this genre. For Shorto, the pivot upon which the old world yielded to the new was the genius of Descartes, the philosopher who gave us the doubting, analytical, newly independent modern self. The Frenchman's most famous phrase, "I think, therefore I am," may strike our own ears as a coffee-mug cliche, but in the 17th century it was a revolutionary declaration. Shorto's achievement is to complicate this picture, and with it our understanding of modernity, by also describing the religious context of the philosopher's ideas.
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Robbie Grant
reviewed Descartes' Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason on November 18, 2012 Descartes' Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason
This is a marvellous historiography of philosophy and the Enlightenment. It gives an overview starting with Descartes and how his views impacted the world. It is very entertaining and readable with a minimum of philosophical jargon. Its' "European philosophy 101" and I see nothing wrong with that.
The basic premise is that Descartes pulled Europe away from an ecclesiastical paradigm. Prior, religion was the primary knowledge source for everything. Descartes liberated the search for knowledge. Nature (man included) was something that could now be studied without the need of religion to intervene - or more bluntly, religion became superfluous for the accumulation and spreading of knowledge.
Knowledge came to be viewed as rational and analytical. Theology became relegated to a branch of the learning tree. God was no longer a major player in the acquisition of learning.
The author cleverly imparts this overview to us by giving the history of Descartes bones or skeletal remains through the ages. It is a detective story where we learn the influence of Descartes on the history of learning since the publication of his Discourses.
There is a brief discussion of the persistence of religion in our society (both Christian and Muslim) and its' constant collision with the secular world that started with the writings of Descartes. No real solutions are offered except to suggest that the worlds must co-exist by moderates on both sides coming to an accommodation.
All-in-all this is a most readable work on the European Enlightenment. The author traces well the different thought patterns or philosophical off-shoots of Descartes legacy.
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