Objektive Ideen

Gathered in this volume by Holger Gutschmidt are several studies on the conception of ideas and their relationship to formative definitions of selected 17th century theories. His main focus of attention is the philosophy of René Descartes, who introduced the definition of ideas to modern epistemology. Further chapters are dedicated to Antoine Arnauld, as well as to the logic of Port Royal, Spinoza and lastly Leibniz. The examination of the conception of ideas set against the background of their function in the respective theories of perception and rationale leads to a series of new research findings and corrections of the hitherto existing research situation. Also, the author deals with the themes of Descartes so-called »objective ideas,« the relationship between idea and definition, the »mode of being« of ideas, the function of the idea of God, and with direct realism.