One of the best features of Descartes’ philosophy is the readability of his major philosophical works – something which can rarely be said about much 20th century philosophy. Descartes’ prose is vivid, clear and lively. He encourages the reader to share in the workings of his very active mind. He presents his philosophy as autobiographical and personal intellectual adventures, and not as academic treatises. So, reading the man, as well as his critics, is a worthwhile experience.
A good anthology of Descartes’ writings can be found in Descartes’ Philosophical Writings, ed. Anscombe and Geach (Nelson University Paperbacks, 1970). It contains Discourse on the Method and Meditations, together with Objections and Replies and various letters and extracts from other works.
The translation of Descartes’ works used by this author is the two-volume The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, translated by Cottingham, Stoothoff and Murdoch (Cambridge University Press, 1985).
The best introduction to Descartes’ philosophy is probably to be found in Descartes by John Cottingham (Blackwell, 1986). Cottingham’s book Rationalism (Paladin Granada, 1984) is also very accessible and useful.
There are many other useful critical works on Descartes.
D.M. Clarke, Descartes’ Philosophy of Science (Manchester University Press, 1982).
E.M. Curley, Descartes Against the Sceptics (Blackwell, 1978).
A Kenny, Descartes (Random House, New York, 1968).
Jonathan Rée, Descartes (Allen Lane, 1974).
B. Williams, Descartes, The Project of Pure Enquiry (Penguin, 1978).
There are many books on the Philosophy of Mathematics. Here are a few.
John D. Barrow, Pi in the Sky (Clarendon Press, 1992).
Carl Boyer, A History of Mathematics (Wiley, 1995).
Davis and Hersh, The Mathematical Experience (Penguin, 1983), and Descartes’ Dream (Penguin, 1988).
Robert Osserman, Poetry of the Universe (Weidenfeld, 1995).
Ian Stewart, Nature’s Numbers (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1995).
Consciousness and the Philosophy of Mind books are published in alarming numbers. Here are a few recent ones.
Francis Crick, The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for The Soul (Simon & Schuster, 1994).
Daniel C. Dennet, Kinds of Minds: Towards an Understanding of Consciousness (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1996).
Owen Flanagan, Consciousness Reconsidered (MIT, 1995).
Richard Gregory (ed.), The Oxford Companion to the Mind (Oxford University Press, 1987).
David Hodgson, The Mind Matters: Consciousness and Choice in a Quantum World (Oxford University Press, 1995).
Darryl Reaney, Music of the Mind: An Adventure into Consciousness (Souvenir, 1995).
The Philosophy of Science is a daunting subject, but there are two excellent introductory books on the subject.
A.F. Chalmers, What is this thing called Science? (Open University Press, 1980).
Anthony O’Hear, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science (Oxford University Press, 1990).
And for the doubters: Christopher Hookway, Scepticism (Routledge, 1990).