Cartesian Imagery

Cartesian Imagery is the first collection of essays entirely devoted to the role of images in Cartesian philosophy and science. Its seventeen chapters study a wealth of sources from across the most disparate disciplines – from printed treatises on astronomy to anatomical sketches, from students’ notebooks to board games. It investigates how images shaped the development of Descartes’s ideas and their creative reception and distortion among supporters and detractors alike, thereby giving rise to new visual languages and representation practices. Lavishly illustrated, with its three-hundred figures the collection offers new, unexpected insights into early modern intellectual history.

Contributors are: Ilaria Ampollini, Delphine Bellis, Jip van Besouw, Erik-Jan Bos, Davide Cellamare, Maria Conforti, Fokko Jan Dijksterhuis, Mihnea Dobre, Gary Hatfield, Eric Jorink, Christoph Lüthy, Gideon Manning, Mattia Mantovani, Carla Rita Palmerino, Isabelle Pantin, David Rabouin, Christoph Sander, Luca Tonetti, and Wouter de Vries.