''Principia philosophiae cartesianae'' (''PPC''; "The Principles of Cartesian Philosophy") or ''Renati Descartes principia philosophiae, more geometrico demonstrata'' ("The Principles of René Descartes' Philosophy, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order") is a philosophical work of
Baruch Spinoza published in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
in 1663. In the preface to this work, Ludovic Meyer explains that it is a reconstruction of
René Descartes
René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Ma ...
' ''
Principles of Philosophy
''Principles of Philosophy'' ( la, Principia Philosophiae) is a book by René Descartes. In essence, it is a synthesis of the '' Discourse on Method'' and '' Meditations on First Philosophy''.Guy Durandin, ''Les Principes de la Philosophie. Int ...
''in the Euclidean or "geometric" fashion''. ''In the appendix, a series of non-geometric prose passages entitled ''Metaphysical Thoughts''
'Cogitata Metaphisica'' Spinoza explicates
Descartes' views on traditional metaphysical topics (including
essence
Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...
,
existence
Existence is the ability of an entity to interact with reality. In philosophy, it refers to the ontological property of being.
Etymology
The term ''existence'' comes from Old French ''existence'', from Medieval Latin ''existentia/exsistentia' ...
,
idea
In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of bei ...
,
potential
Potential generally refers to a currently unrealized ability. The term is used in a wide variety of fields, from physics to the social sciences to indicate things that are in a state where they are able to change in ways ranging from the simple r ...
,
necessity
Necessary or necessity may refer to:
* Need
** An action somebody may feel they must do
** An important task or essential thing to do at a particular time or by a particular moment
* Necessary and sufficient condition, in logic, something that i ...
,
contingency,
duration
Duration may refer to:
* The amount of time elapsed between two events
* Duration (music) – an amount of time or a particular time interval, often cited as one of the fundamental aspects of music
* Duration (philosophy) – a theory of time and ...
, and
time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
) while furtively interpolating some of his own.
Works by Baruch Spinoza
Modern philosophical literature
Metaphysics literature
Books about René Descartes
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