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Descartes, René
Principia Philosophiae
Édition originale rare et précieuse des Principia Philosophiae de Descartes imprimée à Amsterdam en 1644, conservée dans sa reliure de l’époque en vélin ivoire au semé de points dorés recouvert de papier marbré. De la bibliothèque Auguste Charbonnier de Crangeac. In-4 de (11) ff., (1) f. bl., 310, (1) f. bl, (8) ff. et 331 pp., nombreuses figures. Vélin ivoire au semé de points dorés recouvert de papier marbré brun, étiquette papier vert au dos. Reliure de l’époque. 199 x 147 mm. Descartes, René. Principia Philosophiae. Amsterdam, Louis Elzevier, 1644. Suivi de : Descartes, René. Specimina Philosopiae : Sev Dissertatio De Methodo Recte regendae rationis, & veritatis in scientiis investigandae Dioptrice, Et Meteora. Amsterdam, Louis Elzevier, 1644. Cum Privilegiis. Édition originale rare des Principes de la philosophie et 1ère édition de la traduction en latin du Discours de la méthode ; des Dioptriques et des Météores, par Estienne de Courcelles. Guibert, p.104 and 118 ; Krivatsy, 3116 ; Willems, 1008 ; Norman, 622 ; Tchémerzine, IV, 287 et 297 ; Rahir, 1007. First edition of Descartes theory of Physics, in which Descartes developed his theory of vortices, and attempted to reconcile Copernican astronomy with Biblical teachings. Based in part on his then unpublished work Le monde, which treated the creation and function of the universe in completely mechanistic terms, the Principia philosophiae provides a systematic statement of his metaphysics and natural philosophy. Descartes' system represents a truly comprehensive look at the universe in a fundamentally new, mechanistic and non-teleological way. His vortex theory was the starting point for all serious work in physical theory in the mid-17th century, including Newton. The final part includes the first scientific theory of magnetism. "Descartes' vortex theory was the starting point for all serious work in physical theory in the mid-17th century, including Newton." (Gaukroger, Descartes: An Intellectual Biography, Clarendon, 1995). Descartes y met au point sa « théorie des vortex », ancêtre de la gravitation newtonienne. Descartes présentait les Principia philosophiae comme le « Traité systématique et définitif des principes de la connaissance », soit comme l’expression la plus achevée de son système philosophique. L’ouvrage se compose de quatre parties : « Des principes de la connaissance humaine », qui relève du propos métaphysique : « Des principes des choses matérielles », qui traite de la physique, de l’énoncé des lois générales du monde et de la matière ; « Du monde visible », qui est sa cosmologie ; « De la Terre », qui se rattache à ce que nous appelons la physique et la chimie. Le Discours de la méthode (1637) avec les Essais philosophiques, dans leur ensemble, puis les Méditations métaphysiques (1641) avaient déjà donné de larges aperçus des traits fondamentaux de la pensée cartésienne. Ici Descartes se conforme au mode de pensée des doctes de son temps, qui concevaient le philosophe comme auteur d’une « somme » offrant une explication complète du monde. La première partie est essentiellement une reprise de ce qu’exposent respectivement le Discours et les Méditations, en particulier de la proposition du doute méthodique et des preuves de l’existence de Dieu. Les apports les plus neufs consistent en des exposés inédits ou des précisions sur deux points principaux. L’un concerne les limites que Descartes assigne à la quête humaine du savoir : la raison humaine ne doit pas se lancer dans la recherche des causes finales, c’est-à-dire des desseins et arrêts de la divinité, qui sont inaccessibles à l’homme puisqu’il est imparfait (et donc ne peut concevoir les desseins de la perfection divine) et qui appartiennent à l’ordre de la foi et non de la science. L’autre concerne la distinction entre les deux formes de la pensée : l’entendement, qui conçoit le vrai, et le vouloir (ou « volonté »), qui est omniprésent, bien plus étendu que l’entendement, mais qui est, aussi, sujet à confusions, erreurs, illusions puisque les passions et l’imagination en sont partie intégrante. De là, il tire la conséquence que le libre arbitre, la part immense de liberté dont l’homme dispose, ne peut être que mal employé si nous nous fondons sur la volonté et non sur l’entendement. S’esquisse là la problématique de la morale (la volonté est liée à la relation entre la « substance pensante », l’âme, et la « substance étendue », le corps) et de la psychologie, qui sera ensuite développée dans son Traité des passions de l’âme. Cette première partie des Principes, si elle n’est pas fondamentalement neuve, complète la théorie cartésienne. Précieux et fort bel exemplaire de cette importante édition originale de Descartes conservé dans sa reliure de l’époque en vélin ivoire au semé de points dorés recouvert à l’époque de papier marbré, provenant de la bibliothèqueAuguste Charbonnier de Crangeac.
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5 book(s) with the same title
Principia philosophiae. Specimina philosophia : . seu Dissertatio de Methodo recte regendæ rationis, & veritatis in scientis investigandæ : Dioptrice et Meteora
Cogito, ergo sum Amstelodami, Apud Ludovicum Elzevirium, 1644. 1 vol. (150 x 190 mm) de 12 f., 310 p. et 1 f. ; 8 f. et 331 p. Vélin blond, dos lisse, titre à l'encre, petits rabats (reliure hollandaise de l'époque).
Elle contient notamment les Principia, en édition originale. A la suite, les Specimina philosophiae : sous ce titre sont regroupés le Discours de la méthode, la Dioptrique et les Météores, toutes en première traduction latine, par Estienne de Courcelles. Le Discours de la Méthode fut, dans cette traduction, un peu modifiée par Descartes. Le volume contient la toute première occurrence du célèbre « je pense donc je suis» sous sa forme latine du «cogito, ergo sum», la formule philosophique sans doute la plus célèbre au monde. Cette pensée s'est forgée à partir des Méditations métaphysiques, sous la forme première de «Ego sum, ego existo»(en 1641), puis donnée en français dans Le Discours de la méthode, en 1637, avec « Je pense donc je suis», avant de livrer sa forme latine d'une «Ego cogito, ergo sum» en 1644 dans ces Principia philosophiae, où elle apparraît à la dernière ligne de la première partie, « De principiis cognitionis humanae» De nombreuses figures sur bois, illustrant ses travaux sur la réfraction de la lumière, la vision et les phénomènes de l'arc-en-ciel et des vents, accompagnent le texte de la Dioptrique et des Météores, où Descartes explique les mouvements des astres dans le système solaire par l'intervention de forces, en supposant que chacun des astres est entouré d'un tourbillon de matière subtile qui l'entraîne. C'est la première édition du système de physique de Descartes, dans laquelle il développe sa théorie des vortex, point de départ de tous les travaux sérieux en théorie physique au milieu du XVIIe siècle, y compris celui de Newton. Au verso du titre se trouve le privilège, qui est, suivant Nodier, « le plus mémorable monument de la protection que les rois de France ont accordé aux lettres ». Les oeuvres philosphiques de Descartes seront imprimées six fois par les Elzevier dans ce format quarto et cette édition de 1644 est la toute première. Exemplaire bien complet de ses deux feuillets blancs (b4 et l'autre en QQ4), avec des 83 figures géométriques et scientifiques gravées sur bois, dont 21 planches comprises dans la pagination pour les Principia. La marge droite du premier plat de reliure a été anciennement restaurée, sinon très bel exemplaire, très frais, en parfaite condition intérieure. Provenance : Edouard du Basty (ex-libris et ex-libris manuscrit « A Madame du Basty») ; Henri Leclerq (ex-libris et vente, Bruxelles, 1947) ; collection privée. En français dans le texte, 90 ; Guibert, Descartes, p. 118-119 ; Tchemerzine, Éditions originales et rares, II, 777 et 787 ; DSB, IV, 52 ; Norman 622 et 623 ; Willems 1006-1008.
[Recueil composite renfermant les Oeuvres suivantes :] Les Méditations métaphysiques - Principia philosophiae - Specimina philosophiae seu Dissertation de methodo [...] Dioptrice et Meteora - Passiones animae - De homine figuris et Latinitate donatus a Florentio Schuyl - L'Homme et La Formation du foetus a quoy [sic] l'on ajouté Le Monde ou Traité de la lumière.
A Paris, chez la Veuve de Jean Camusat et Pierre Le Petit, 1647 - Amstelodami [Amsterdam], apud Danielem Elzevirium [Daniel Elzevier / Elsevier], 1664 - Amstelodami, apud Danielem Elzevirium, 1664 - Amstelodami, apud Ludovicum & Danielem Elzevirios, 1664 - Lugduni Batavorum [Leyde / Leyden], apud Franciscum Moyardum & Petrum Leffen, 1662 - A Paris, chez Michel Bobin et Nicolas Le Gras, 1677. 3 vol. au format pt in-4 (208 x 165 mm) de 1 f. bl., 7 ff. n.fol., 606 pp., 1 f. n.fol. et 1 f. bl. ; 1 f. bl., 20 (dont frontispice gravé) ff. n.fol. et 222 pp. ; 1 f. bl., 8 ff. n.fol. et 248 pp. ; 12 ff. n.fol., 92 pp. et 2 ff. n.fol. ; 18 ff. n.fol., 121 pp. et 1 f. bl. ; 32 ff. n.fol., 511 pp., 4 ff. n.fol. et 1 f. bl. Reliures uniformes (début XIXème) de pleine basane racinée blonde, plats jansénistes, dos lisses ornés de jeu de filets gras et maigres dorés, larges fleurons dorés, entrelacs de petits filets doré formant croisillons, pièces de titre de maroquin carmin, pièces de tomaison de maroquin vert-bronze, titre doré, tomaison dorée, palette dorée en queue, filet doré sur les coupes, tranches mouchetées.
Précieux ensemble renfermant six oeuvres de Descartes en éditions XVIIème. Les Méditations métaphysiques sont ici proposées dans leur première édition française ; en partie originale. ''Première traduction française des Méditations, faite par le Duc de Luynes. C'est Descartes qui a lui-même corrigé et revu la traduction en français de ses Méditations en précisant certains passages insuffisamment claires dans leur forme latine''. (in Guibert). Edition originale pour De homine figuris ; dont la marque d'imprimeur en page de titre figure un ange avec une lyre sous des lauriers. ''Cette édition originale latine a été faite sur une copie du manuscrit original français. Elle renferme 58 figures sur bois et cuivre dont 10 hors-texte''. (in Guibert). On trouve à la suite la traduction française de L'Homme ; dont c'est là la seconde édition ; en partie originale. ''L'ouvrage contient de nombreuses figures anatomiques et géométriques sur bois''. (in Guibert). Quant aux Principia philosophiae, Specimina philosophiae et Passiones animae, ''on trouve ces oeuvres dans le recueil factice des Oeuvres philosophiques de Descartes (1670-72)''. (in Guibert). Guibert, Bibliographie des Oeuvres de Descartes publiées au XVIIème siècle, p. 45 ; p. 126 ; p. 107 ; p. 163 ; p. 196 ; p. 203. Légères altérations superficielles affectant les reliures. Titre de s Méditations rogné court en marge inférieure. rares rousseurs dans les corps d'ouvrages. Petite cerne angulaire affectant une dizaine de feuillets. Restauration anciene au revers d'une des planches. Du reste, ensemble en belle condition.
Principia Philosophiae [i.e. ""The Monadology""/""Monadologie""/""Theory of Monads""] + (Chr. Wolff:) Das Herrn Gottfrid Wilhelm von Leibnitz Lehrsätze über die Monadologie &c... [In: Actorum Eruditorum, Supplementa. Tomus VII + Acta Eruditorum anno 1721]. - [THE MONADOLOGY - A NEW PHILOSOPHY]
Leipzig, 1721. 4to. Both entire volumes (Acta Eruditorum 1721 + Supplementa VII, 1721) present, in uniform contemporary full vellum bindings with handwriting to spines. A small later label to top of spines. Old handwritten ex libris-inscription to top of both title-pages as well as a small stamp. The supplement-volume with an additional stamp to title-page, and both volumes with library label (Archiv des k.k. militär.-geograf Institutes) to pasted down front free end-paper. As usual some brownspotting. A nice set. pp. 500-514 (Supplement-vol.) + pp. 94-95. [Entire volumes: (2), 537, (39) pp. + three plates (Suppl.-vol.) + (4), 547, (42) pp. + five plates].
The highly important first Latin translation of Leibnitz' seminal ""The Monadology"" - his main philosophical work and the work that stands as the epitomization of anti-materialism - which was not published in the original French until 1814, and which only appeared in a German translation (exceedingly scarce) in 1720 and in a Latin translation, by Christian Wolff, in 1721, as it is here. Up until then, Leibnitz' key philosophical text had only circulated in manuscript form (written in 1714). - Here sold together with Wolff's anonymously written review of (the German version of the) ""Monadology"", which had great impact upon the reception of the seminal philosophical text that is the ""Monadology"".""Until the XXth century, criticism about Leibniz's ""Principles of Nature and Grace"" and ""Monadology"" has been characterised by a number of mistakes and misunderstandings, which have roots in the circumstances surrounding the genesis of these manuscripts. As a consequence, erroneous information about these texts was included in an anonymous review, published in 1721 in the ""Acta eruditorum"" of Leipzig. Research on primary sources proves that the author of this review (who was in fact the author of the latin translation of the Monadology, published immediately afterwards) was Christian Wolff, who was in possession of a copy of Leibniz's manuscript as early as 1717. Wolff's initiative of translating the Monadology can be seen as part of a cultural strategy aiming to prevent any idealistic interpretation of Leibniz's monadological thought. From this point of view, to consider the theory of pre-established harmony as based on a system of strictly dualistic metaphysics was an essential element of Wolff's philosophical strategy.""(Antonio Lamarra: Contexte génétique et première reception de la ""Monadologie"". Leibniz, Wolff et la doctrine de l'harmonie préétablie""). During his last stay in Vienna from 1712 to September 1714, Leibniz wrote two short texts, which were meant as concise expositions of his philosophy, namely the ""Principes de la Nature et de la Grace fondés en raison"" (written as a letter to Prince Eugene of Savoy) and the work we now know as the ""Monadology"" (which he had been asked to write by Nicolas Redmond, Duke of Orleons) - the latter being the work that established Leibnitz' fame as a philosopher and which has gone down in history as, not only as one of the most important philosophical texts of the 18th century, but also, arguably the most important work of immaterialism. After his death ""Principes de la Nature et de la Grace fondés en raison"" appeared in French in the Netherlands. Without having seen this publication, Christian Wolff and collaborators had assumed that it contained the French original of the ""Monadology"" as well, although this in fact remained unpublished until 1840. Thus it happened that Leibnitz' key philosophical text, which came to be known as ""The Monadology"", was printed in German and Latin ab. 120 years before it appeared in the original French. The German translation appeared in 1720 as ""Lehrsätze über die Monadologie"" and the following year the Latin translation appeared, in Acta Eruditorum, as ""Principia philosophiae"". Three manuscript versions of the text exist: the first written by Leibniz and overcharged with corrections and two further emended copies with some corrections appearing in one but not the other. ""Leibniz was one of the last ""universal men"" of the type which the Italian Renaissance had ideally postulated: philosopher, historian, mathematician, scientist, lawyer, librarian, and diplomat. In all these fields either all his actual achievements or his seminal suggestions have become part and parcel of European thought. Although trained for the law, mathematics was his favourite subject. Independently of Newton he worked out the infinitesimal calculus, introduced a number of mathematical symbols now in general use, and constructed an early calculating machine, the ancestor of our computers. Mathematical conceptions also determine his philosophy. In it, Leibniz tried to combine physics and metaphysics and to reconcile philosophy and theology. The ""essay on a Theodicy"" is the only larger philosophical work published by himself"" but his fame as a philosopher rests on his ""Theory of Monads"". The original French text of this was published for the first time in 1840"" but it had circulated in manuscript in its initial form of a letter addressed to Prince Eugene of Savoy (1714) and it was printed in German (1720) and Latin (1721) translations. Leibniz proclaimed a ""pre-established harmony"" of the universe which he explained as composed of hierarchically ordered ""monads"", i.e. the ultimate substances of mind as well as matter. This concept clearly reflects the ideal of the properly organized absolutist state of the baroque period and derives partly from the ""idées simples"" of Descartes whom Leibniz greatly admired. A generation later, Voltaire ridiculed the ""pre-established harmony"" in ""Candide"""" but modern nuclear science has vindicated Leibniz's basic ideas, albeit from different presuppositions."" (Printing and the Mind of Man, pp. 105-6). The ""Monadology"" is an extremely condense work that consists of 90 (in this Latin version, 93) numbered sections/paragraphs, which outline a metaphysics of a single substance. The Monadology ends the dualistic mind-body-problem of Descartes and offers a new solution to the question of the interaction between mind and matter, by explaining the pre-established harmony and the synchronous (not causal) relationship between the realm of final causes and that of efficient causes. Leibniz' groundbreaking work came to profoundly influence not only 18th century thought, but also much later philosophy and logic. For this we have to thank Christian Wolff, the translator of the ""Monadology"" into Latin and the first reviewer of the work. It is through Wolff and his elaboration of the development of Leibniz' speculative and metaphysical views that Leibniz becomes a recognized figure of importance, particularly in Germany from the 1720'ies onwards, where Wolff's writings were standardly studied. ""Notably, Wolff's Leibnizianism made a deep impact on Kant, in whose ""Critique of Pure Reason"" (1781) Leibniz himself came to figure as one of the main targets of Kant's anti-metaphysical programme. In particular, Kant saw Leibniz as pretending to ""a priori"" knowledge of the world as it is in itself and presented his own claim that the only knowledge we can have is of the world as it appears in our experience as sharply opposed to the Leibnizian vision. [...] today shows that his thought has survived even the extreme empiricism of the Vienna Circle in the 1930s, which would have viewed its principal doctrines as unverifiable and hence utterly meaningless. Although not in evidence in the ""Monadology"" itself, one of Leibniz' preoccupations was with the philosophy of logic and language, and the twentieth-century's concern for those topics has discovered in what he had to say about them a treasure house of good sense and wisdom which can be detached from the less appealing of his metaphysical speculations. Then, more recent writers who have been interested in the metaphysics of possibility and necessity have found inspiration in the Leibnizian image of possible worlds, and that too has helped keep his name alive for us."" (Savile, ""Leibniz and the Monadology"", pp. 6-7). ""The long span of Leibniz' intellectual life and his early involvement with philosophy made for engagement with a wide variety of philosophical traditions and issues. Early studies at home exposed him to the thought of the Scholastics"" during his university years he was something of a materialist, influenced by the atomism of Bacon and Gassendi. In his mid-20s and early 30s, becoming disenchanted with the intellectual prospects for materialist thought, he turned towards the sort of immaterialism that came to shape his mature thinking after the decade between 1675 and 1685 when he was more narrowly concerned with mathematics than philosophy. It is this anti-materialism that is epitomized in the ""Monadology"" itself...Although Leibniz produced a prodigious quantity of philosophical writing very little of it was published in his lifetime"" indeed, very little was intended for publication. For the most part..., his philosophical thoughts were prepared for individual scholars he had met, or with whom he corresponded, and were never presented as a worked-out system... it was not until the last period of his life that he found the time and the impetus to set down the whole, which he did in two condensed papers written in French during a visit to Vienna.The more popular and less taxing of these was the ""Principles of Nature and Grace Founded on Reason"", which he prepared for Prince Eugène of Savoy, and the second, which he had been asked to write by the councellor of the Duke of Orleans, Nicolas Remond, but never sent off, was the ""Principles of Philosophy"" or, as he called it ""Elucidation Concerning Monads"" ... The title by which that work is known today, ""Monadology"", was not one that Leibniz ever gave it, but was invented by the work's first editor, Henrich Kohler, who published it in a German translation under that title in 1720."" (Savile, ""Leibniz and the Monadology"", pp. 3-4). ""Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) was one of the great thinkers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and is known as the last ""universal genius"". He made deep and important contributions to the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, logic, philosophy of religion, as well as mathematics, physics, geology, jurisprudence, and history. Even the eighteenth-century French atheist and materialist Denis Diderot, whose views were very often at odds with those of Leibniz, could not help being awed by his achievement, writing in his entry on Leibniz in the Encyclopedia, ""Perhaps never has a man read as much, studied as much, meditated more, and written more than Leibniz... What he has composed on the world, God, nature, and the soul is of the most sublime eloquence. If his ideas had been expressed with the flair of Plato, the philosopher of Leipzig would cede nothing to the philosopher of Athens."" (""Oeuvres complètes"", vol. 7, p. 709) Indeed, Diderot was almost moved to despair in this piece: ""When one compares the talents one has with those of a Leibniz, one is tempted to throw away one's books and go die quietly in the dark of some forgotten corner."" (""Oeuvres complètes"", vol. 7, p. 678) More than a century later, Gottlob Frege, who fortunately did not cast his books away in despair, expressed similar admiration, declaring that ""in his writings, Leibniz threw out such a profusion of seeds of ideas that in this respect he is virtually in a class of his own."" (""Boole's logical Calculus and the Concept-script"" in ""Posthumous Writings"", p. 9)."" (SEP).Ravier: 357(PMM 177b - being the Latin translation)
Principia Philosophiae. Meditationes de prima philosophia; Epistola ad Celeberrimum virum D. Gisbertum Voetium. Principia philosophiae. Dissertatio de Methodo. Dioptrice. Meteora. Traductatus de Passionibus Animae. Ultima Edition cum optima collata, diligenter recognita, & mendis expurgata (3 textes reliés en un volume).
Amstelodami, Apud Danielem Elsevirium, 1677, 3 textes reliés en 1 volume in-8 de 160x210 mm environ, (2) ff., 1 faux titre avec une table au dos, 1 frontispice avec "Typographus ad lectorum" au dos, (4) ff. (titre, epistola dedicat.), (14) ff. (epistola auctoris, index), 222 pp., (8) ff. (titre, index), 248 pp., (11) ff. (titre, ad lectorem, epistola, responsio), 92 pp., 2 ff.(index), (2) ff., reliure plein vélin d'époque, enrichi d'un portrait en frontispice gravé, de nombreuses figures dans le texte, de lettrines et culs-de-lampe. Ex-libris contrecollé sur le premier contreplat et tampon sur la page de titre, rousseurs, petite mouillure sur la page de faux-titre, départ de fente sur mors, sinon bon état.
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Synopsis philosophiae moralis seu Institutiones Ethicae et Juris naturae secundum principia philosophiae scholasticae, praesertim S.Thomae, Suarez et De Lugo. Methodo scholastica
Oeniponte, Feliciani Rauch 1883 xxix + 820pp.+ 1 enfolding table, cart.cover with leather spine (title engilded), 23cm., few stamps, VG, [text in latin]
