Call number
Collection
Publication
New York : Vintage, 2009, c2008
Pages
xx; 299
Description
The best-selling author of The Island at the Center of the World chronicles the more than three-hundred-year debate between religion and science as revealed through the long and momentous odyssey of the skeletal remains of French philosopher René Descartes, creator of the famous phrase "I think, therefore I am."
Awards
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Nonfiction — 2008)
San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year (Nonfiction — 2008)
Language
Original publication date
2008
Physical description
xx, 299 p.; 9.84 inches
ISBN
0307275663 / 9780307275660
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User reviews
LibraryThing member JeffV
Rene Descartes as the father of modernity is the theme of this book, which follows the adventurous remains of the great French philosopher through the centuries following his death in Sweden. Shorto ties the Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, and the rise of modern scientific thought to Cartesian
Descartes remains have been treated much the way the bones of saints during medieval times, as symbols, as artifacts of reverence, or even as objects d'art. It serves as a vehicle to wrap around the rise of modern thought...if you need thematic story to go along with your history lesson, this book is for you. While Shorto says near the end that the story of Descarte's Bones is an allegory, often times he gets a little too bogged down in that story, going through great lengths to justify trivial details (IMO, I was more interested in the way he tied developments in science and philosophy back to Descartes).
In the end, he invokes modern thinkers such as Christopher Hitchens and suggests that the Enlightenment requires eternal vigilance, as the forces of ignorance (fundamentalist religion) continue to battle against modern thought. Descartes set a massive wave of ideas in motion that still resonate today...but more than 300 years later, it's still not inconceivable that the progress cannot be undone. Descartes himself tried to reconcile religion with reason, and some of the most formidable opposition also claims the Frenchman as inspiration for their thought.
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principles and ideas. Scientific disciplines made possible by the work of Descartes and his followers in turn lent its efforts into determining the saga of his bones (particularly his skull).Descartes remains have been treated much the way the bones of saints during medieval times, as symbols, as artifacts of reverence, or even as objects d'art. It serves as a vehicle to wrap around the rise of modern thought...if you need thematic story to go along with your history lesson, this book is for you. While Shorto says near the end that the story of Descarte's Bones is an allegory, often times he gets a little too bogged down in that story, going through great lengths to justify trivial details (IMO, I was more interested in the way he tied developments in science and philosophy back to Descartes).
In the end, he invokes modern thinkers such as Christopher Hitchens and suggests that the Enlightenment requires eternal vigilance, as the forces of ignorance (fundamentalist religion) continue to battle against modern thought. Descartes set a massive wave of ideas in motion that still resonate today...but more than 300 years later, it's still not inconceivable that the progress cannot be undone. Descartes himself tried to reconcile religion with reason, and some of the most formidable opposition also claims the Frenchman as inspiration for their thought.
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LibraryThing member TrishNYC
I was surprised by how much I ended up liking this book. When I started reading, I was not sure that I would be able to make it through the whole thing because I found it dry and somehwat bland. But as I continued reading, I began to find a very interesting story.
Descartes died in 1650 in Sweden
Descartes main thesis that put him in opposition to the authority figures of his day was the belief that man should place a greater reliance on reason rather than on unquestioning faith. He sought to reorient the way humans thought and lived by asking them to empty their minds of preconceived notions implanted by tradition and religion. Of course many in the church saw no merit to his theories and believed that his way of thinking would lead people away from religion and remove the church as the established mediator between the people and God. The powers that be tried everything within their disposal to discredit him, banning his works and theories from respected institutions and universities. In addition, they accused him of being a cult leader and for good measure he was said to be a sexual deviant.
I am not a student of philosophy so I am sure that there are many who are well versed in in this area who may find fault with certain claims made to Descartes place in the canon of philosophers in this book. But for me as a total novice, I found this book to be interesting and enlightening. I learnt so much about Western thought and reason and its evolution over the years. I found it interesting that a person who was so religious(he was a devout Catholic) expounded theories that many saw as the bedrock of atheism. But many of Descartes fiercest disciples were men of the cloth and devoted to God. They were very open minded and did not see any conflict between their religious worldview and Descartes teachings.
One of the biggest drawbacks of this book is its tendency to go off on tangents. Some of these tangents worked very well but some were unnecessary. For example, having almost a whole chapter dedicated to the study of cranial capacity and its relation to intelligence was in my opinion a waste of time. Shorto claims that Descartes' skull helped debunk this area of bad science. I disagree. It may have in some minute way but whatever part it played was not enough to justify the presence of this chapter in the book. I also found the narrative to be rambling and repetitive at times. Shorto constantly skips back and forth between time periods, leading to a boat load of confusion at times. I do not know that Shorto utilized Descartes bones to tell his tale as well as he might have hoped. Sometimes I felt like stories concerning the bones were thrown in with no real cohesion between their fate and the other things being discussed in the book. But all in all I found this book to be fascinating and I would absolutely recommend it.
Descartes died in 1650 in Sweden
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where he had taken refuge because of the unpopularity his beliefs had engendered in his home country of France. He was disinterred sixteen years later when France decided that such a great man should not have his corpse remain on foreign soil(and a Lutheran one at that). This would turn out to be one of many times that Descartes' body would be disturbed from its resting place and used in a poltical or religious tussle. Descartes main thesis that put him in opposition to the authority figures of his day was the belief that man should place a greater reliance on reason rather than on unquestioning faith. He sought to reorient the way humans thought and lived by asking them to empty their minds of preconceived notions implanted by tradition and religion. Of course many in the church saw no merit to his theories and believed that his way of thinking would lead people away from religion and remove the church as the established mediator between the people and God. The powers that be tried everything within their disposal to discredit him, banning his works and theories from respected institutions and universities. In addition, they accused him of being a cult leader and for good measure he was said to be a sexual deviant.
I am not a student of philosophy so I am sure that there are many who are well versed in in this area who may find fault with certain claims made to Descartes place in the canon of philosophers in this book. But for me as a total novice, I found this book to be interesting and enlightening. I learnt so much about Western thought and reason and its evolution over the years. I found it interesting that a person who was so religious(he was a devout Catholic) expounded theories that many saw as the bedrock of atheism. But many of Descartes fiercest disciples were men of the cloth and devoted to God. They were very open minded and did not see any conflict between their religious worldview and Descartes teachings.
One of the biggest drawbacks of this book is its tendency to go off on tangents. Some of these tangents worked very well but some were unnecessary. For example, having almost a whole chapter dedicated to the study of cranial capacity and its relation to intelligence was in my opinion a waste of time. Shorto claims that Descartes' skull helped debunk this area of bad science. I disagree. It may have in some minute way but whatever part it played was not enough to justify the presence of this chapter in the book. I also found the narrative to be rambling and repetitive at times. Shorto constantly skips back and forth between time periods, leading to a boat load of confusion at times. I do not know that Shorto utilized Descartes bones to tell his tale as well as he might have hoped. Sometimes I felt like stories concerning the bones were thrown in with no real cohesion between their fate and the other things being discussed in the book. But all in all I found this book to be fascinating and I would absolutely recommend it.
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LibraryThing member Michael_Taylor
Highly recommended: Shorto maps the continuing odyssey of Descartes' earthly remains to the evolving discussion between faith and reason ultimately derived from the philosopher's cogito. Fittingly, the ambiguities of Descartes' legacy (and the disposition of his bones) are traced from their
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beginnings to our own current events. Show Less
LibraryThing member cameling
A very good and interesting read. I had no idea how many people built on the foundation of Descartes' works. The first chapter briefly covered Descartes' life, his philosophies, his medical research and observations, his study of light, optics and weather phenomena, and his mathematical analysis
Upon his death, he was first buried in Sweden, but later his bones were taken across to France, the land of his birth. Somewhere along the way, he first lost his little finger to Hugues de Terlon, knight of St John and collector of holy relics. Terlon was responsible for arranging for the removal and transfer of Descartes' body from Sweden to France. What happened during this process has turned out to be a mystery for all ages .... how does one, placing a skeleton in a new copper coffin, manage not to notice that the skull is missing?
While there are references to Descartes' bones and we are informed of the sudden realization much much later, that there is a major part of the skeleton that is missing, the main focus of this book is not the mystery behind Descartes' bones, but really the movements that have arisen following his death. As the father of modernity, his works were said to influence other notables that followed, such as Newton, Locke, Hume, Voltaire, and Berzelius.
Starting with Descartes' life, we're taken through the period of the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the scientific exploration in the 18th and 19th century, and the continuous battle between religious faith and reason.
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that would be the foundation of calculus.Upon his death, he was first buried in Sweden, but later his bones were taken across to France, the land of his birth. Somewhere along the way, he first lost his little finger to Hugues de Terlon, knight of St John and collector of holy relics. Terlon was responsible for arranging for the removal and transfer of Descartes' body from Sweden to France. What happened during this process has turned out to be a mystery for all ages .... how does one, placing a skeleton in a new copper coffin, manage not to notice that the skull is missing?
While there are references to Descartes' bones and we are informed of the sudden realization much much later, that there is a major part of the skeleton that is missing, the main focus of this book is not the mystery behind Descartes' bones, but really the movements that have arisen following his death. As the father of modernity, his works were said to influence other notables that followed, such as Newton, Locke, Hume, Voltaire, and Berzelius.
Starting with Descartes' life, we're taken through the period of the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the scientific exploration in the 18th and 19th century, and the continuous battle between religious faith and reason.
Show Less
LibraryThing member datrappert
I listened to the recorded version of this on my commute, so that probably results in a one-half or one star demerit vs. reading the regular book. The books spends only a little bit of time dealing with the living Descartes, before proceeding on a 350 year story of what subsequent generations have
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done with his bones and his ideas. Shorto isn't particularly successful in establishing any type of meaningful link between one and the other. The story of the bones, and the skull in particular, do provide the occasion for him to do a little detective work, however. The main philosophical debate the book deals with is the mind-body problem, which the writings of Descartes and his followers brought to the forefront, leading to a clash between science and religion, which Shorto neatly ties to the Intelligent Design debate of today. For a non-believer, however, reading about religious leaders and philosophers arguing about the "truth" behind the Catholic belief in transubstantiation seems like much ado about nothing, or perhaps much ado about nonsense. Nevertheless, the book held my interest and I learned a few things about history and philosophy I didn't know about before. I think a short treatise on Descartes and his ideas would have helped me more, however. Show Less
LibraryThing member jeff.maynes
This is a delightful book. It uses the curious history to tell the story of several episodes in the development of Modern thought, and to relate this into a broader theme about the struggle between faith and reason through to contemporary society. The book excels in a few key areas.
First, it uses
Second, Shorto does an able job with the philosophy. As an academic philosopher myself, I was prepared to be disappointed by sloppy descriptions of Descartes ideas. However, I found that Shorto presented them in a clear way, where the simplifications did not distort Descartes actual views (aside from one bit, see below). A reader with little familiarity with Descartes ideas would come out with a good grasp of the key ideas, and how they tie into the more general story.
Third, the book is well written. It moves crisply through lots of historical episodes without slowing down over the large cast of characters or all of the historical details. It is a breezy, but quite informative read.
There were two areas I felt the book came up a bit short. First, the culminating chapters, where Short engages the faith vs reason theme directly, were not particularly well developed. For example, the second major fault he identifies with Enlightenment ideas is that an overemphasis on reason limits the set of possible explanations that one might offer or need to understand reality. Ignoring religion, he suggests, is a form of intolerance. This may be true, but it is a pretty heavy idea to simply baldly assert. Enlightenment-sympathetic thinkers might simply argue that it is not intolerance to reject modes of explanation which do not provide us with access to the truth. The whole point hinges on the assumption that religion is a good way to understand the world and puzzles like dualism, and that is never really addressed.
Similarly, the final discussion of the mind-body problem are abrupt, and offer very little guidance. Shorto ends on a rather poetic note about all of us solving the mind-body problem on our own (or trying to) and Descartes' ideas from "The Passions of the Soul." While Shorto mentions the idea of there being an encoding of mind and body in the passions, this is hardly a helpful idea without some explanation. Descartes' substance dualism renders direct interaction mysterious. Simply pointing to our emotions as a solution carries rhetorical weight, but it is not an explanation, nor does it add any clarity.
This ties into the second concern I had about the book, which was the occasional flights into rhetorical fancy. The closing discussion of emotion is one. The bit about death is another such example. He notes that death is "why we write poetry, why sex thrills us." Really? Sex thrills us *because* of death? Not because we have evolved to enjoy sexual pleasure because it better enables us to pass on our genes? While one might offer a thoughtful exploration of how the recognition of the possibility of death leads us to savor life experiences, this is a far cry from saying death is the explanation for phenomena like this. I suspect that Shorto is caught up in a nice rhetorical flourish, regardless of whether it is true or not.
Despite these criticisms, the book is ultimately a strong one and is well recommended. Anyone interested in Descartes or Modern thought would find this a pleasurable and informative read.
First, it uses
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the central thread well. It is a fascinating story on its own, and it ties nicely into his central theme. This book structure can lend itself to books where the central unifying story doesn't really support the full range of stories the author wants to tell, but that is not the case here. The fate of Descartes' bones is both interesting in its own right, and sufficiently relevant to the more central themes to work as the central pillar of the book.Second, Shorto does an able job with the philosophy. As an academic philosopher myself, I was prepared to be disappointed by sloppy descriptions of Descartes ideas. However, I found that Shorto presented them in a clear way, where the simplifications did not distort Descartes actual views (aside from one bit, see below). A reader with little familiarity with Descartes ideas would come out with a good grasp of the key ideas, and how they tie into the more general story.
Third, the book is well written. It moves crisply through lots of historical episodes without slowing down over the large cast of characters or all of the historical details. It is a breezy, but quite informative read.
There were two areas I felt the book came up a bit short. First, the culminating chapters, where Short engages the faith vs reason theme directly, were not particularly well developed. For example, the second major fault he identifies with Enlightenment ideas is that an overemphasis on reason limits the set of possible explanations that one might offer or need to understand reality. Ignoring religion, he suggests, is a form of intolerance. This may be true, but it is a pretty heavy idea to simply baldly assert. Enlightenment-sympathetic thinkers might simply argue that it is not intolerance to reject modes of explanation which do not provide us with access to the truth. The whole point hinges on the assumption that religion is a good way to understand the world and puzzles like dualism, and that is never really addressed.
Similarly, the final discussion of the mind-body problem are abrupt, and offer very little guidance. Shorto ends on a rather poetic note about all of us solving the mind-body problem on our own (or trying to) and Descartes' ideas from "The Passions of the Soul." While Shorto mentions the idea of there being an encoding of mind and body in the passions, this is hardly a helpful idea without some explanation. Descartes' substance dualism renders direct interaction mysterious. Simply pointing to our emotions as a solution carries rhetorical weight, but it is not an explanation, nor does it add any clarity.
This ties into the second concern I had about the book, which was the occasional flights into rhetorical fancy. The closing discussion of emotion is one. The bit about death is another such example. He notes that death is "why we write poetry, why sex thrills us." Really? Sex thrills us *because* of death? Not because we have evolved to enjoy sexual pleasure because it better enables us to pass on our genes? While one might offer a thoughtful exploration of how the recognition of the possibility of death leads us to savor life experiences, this is a far cry from saying death is the explanation for phenomena like this. I suspect that Shorto is caught up in a nice rhetorical flourish, regardless of whether it is true or not.
Despite these criticisms, the book is ultimately a strong one and is well recommended. Anyone interested in Descartes or Modern thought would find this a pleasurable and informative read.
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LibraryThing member trbixby
Review: This book, published in October 2008, provides (in the words of its subtitle) “A Skeletal History of the Conflict between Faith and Reason.”
Russell begins with an overview of “The man who Died” (chapter 1). Descartes lived in a an age of many scientific discoveries. However, he
“At the end of this remorseless reduction there is only one thing that remains, one proposition that can’t be denied, one sound, as it were, in the universe, like the lonely ticking of a clock. It is the sound of the thinker’s own thoughts. For can I doubt that thoughts are occurring right now, including this one? No: it’s not logically possible.” Hence the conclusion: “Cogito, ergo sum,” or, “Je pense, donc je suis,” or “I think, therefore I am.” This was way more than a slogan. As Shorto explains, it declared that “the mind and its ‘good sense’–that is to say, human reason–are the only basis for judging whether a thing is true…. Human reason supplanted received wisdom. Once Descartes had established the base, he and others could rebuild the edifice of knowledge. But it would be different from what it had been. Everything would be different.”
Following the overview of chapter one, the majority of Shorto’s book is devoted to a description of the peregrinations of the French philosopher’s bones down through the centuries following his death in 1650. The story is fascinating, not only because the skull was separated from the bones sixteen years after Descartes’ death (and followed a completely different trajectory through different countries), but because of the recurring connection that Descartes’ bones had with the developing ideas and events of the “modern” world that Descartes’ philosophy had produced. Thus, in an odd way, Descartes’ skull and the ideas which emerged from it keep intersecting.
This is a fascinating read, because it is on the one hand a non-fiction historical detective story, and on the other hand a philosophical analysis of modernity. Descartes introduced “modernism” which eventually gave way to “postmodernism.” The postmodern world ended, according to Shorto, on September 11, 2001. He borrows from the German philosopher Jurgen Habermas the term postsecular to describe the next stage in the evolution of Western society. This is a stage in which the two radical extremes–radical secularists (such as Christopher Hitchens and other “radical Enlightenment” warriors) and the “theological camp” (people “at the fringes of Western society who [refuse] to go along with the basic ideals inherited from the enlightenment,” who reject homosexuality, etc., and who value supposed divine revelation over human doubt)–are brought into the “moderate Enlightenment camp” in which it is recognized that “scientific and religious worldviews aren’t truly inconsistent but that perceived conflicts have to be sorted out.” (He explains how the American Revolution was the result of “moderate Enlightenment” thinking, and the French Revolution the result of “radical Enlightenment” thinking.)
Our understanding of the relationship of faith to reason and reason to faith have titanic implications to our own personal worldview. Understanding how these two have related throughout western history helps us better relate to the millions around us who, indifferent as they may be to the doubts concerning the authenticity of Descartes’ skull, are nonetheless the products of the doubts that skull produced.
Russell begins with an overview of “The man who Died” (chapter 1). Descartes lived in a an age of many scientific discoveries. However, he
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perceived them to be without any unifying foundation. The crises he experienced was a loss of meaning, and he began a quest for truth, for something to believe in. He was resolved to slash every idea until he came to a proposition that was impossible to deny. Aristotle, Aquinas, Plato, the Hebrew prophets and the Apostle Paul were all regulated to the same dustbin. Even his own senses could not be trusted since senses can deceive. There might be a tree in front of me, or I might be just dreaming that that is a tree.“At the end of this remorseless reduction there is only one thing that remains, one proposition that can’t be denied, one sound, as it were, in the universe, like the lonely ticking of a clock. It is the sound of the thinker’s own thoughts. For can I doubt that thoughts are occurring right now, including this one? No: it’s not logically possible.” Hence the conclusion: “Cogito, ergo sum,” or, “Je pense, donc je suis,” or “I think, therefore I am.” This was way more than a slogan. As Shorto explains, it declared that “the mind and its ‘good sense’–that is to say, human reason–are the only basis for judging whether a thing is true…. Human reason supplanted received wisdom. Once Descartes had established the base, he and others could rebuild the edifice of knowledge. But it would be different from what it had been. Everything would be different.”
Following the overview of chapter one, the majority of Shorto’s book is devoted to a description of the peregrinations of the French philosopher’s bones down through the centuries following his death in 1650. The story is fascinating, not only because the skull was separated from the bones sixteen years after Descartes’ death (and followed a completely different trajectory through different countries), but because of the recurring connection that Descartes’ bones had with the developing ideas and events of the “modern” world that Descartes’ philosophy had produced. Thus, in an odd way, Descartes’ skull and the ideas which emerged from it keep intersecting.
This is a fascinating read, because it is on the one hand a non-fiction historical detective story, and on the other hand a philosophical analysis of modernity. Descartes introduced “modernism” which eventually gave way to “postmodernism.” The postmodern world ended, according to Shorto, on September 11, 2001. He borrows from the German philosopher Jurgen Habermas the term postsecular to describe the next stage in the evolution of Western society. This is a stage in which the two radical extremes–radical secularists (such as Christopher Hitchens and other “radical Enlightenment” warriors) and the “theological camp” (people “at the fringes of Western society who [refuse] to go along with the basic ideals inherited from the enlightenment,” who reject homosexuality, etc., and who value supposed divine revelation over human doubt)–are brought into the “moderate Enlightenment camp” in which it is recognized that “scientific and religious worldviews aren’t truly inconsistent but that perceived conflicts have to be sorted out.” (He explains how the American Revolution was the result of “moderate Enlightenment” thinking, and the French Revolution the result of “radical Enlightenment” thinking.)
Our understanding of the relationship of faith to reason and reason to faith have titanic implications to our own personal worldview. Understanding how these two have related throughout western history helps us better relate to the millions around us who, indifferent as they may be to the doubts concerning the authenticity of Descartes’ skull, are nonetheless the products of the doubts that skull produced.
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LibraryThing member lpmejia
Descartes’ Bones, by Russell Shorto, takes the reader on an interesting and compelling journey through 400 years of history in search of the true final resting place of Rene’ Descartes, the man arguably responsible for the advent of modern scientific inquiry. Told within the framework of the
The author is one of those rare history writers who have a gift for making their subjects come alive. With wit and a keen ear for suspense a la Dan Brown, he traces the story of Descartes’ post mortem journey in such a way that keeps his reader both engaged and entertained. Shorto presents the past the way it should be – full of interesting characters and intriguing stories Great events like the French Revolution are illuminated as more than simply the sum of dry dates and dusty facts, but seminal events that happened within the context of continent-wide changes in the way mankind viewed himself and his place in the world. Through Shorto’s superb storytelling skills and his extensive historical knowledge, the reader comes away from this book with a good understanding along with a better appreciation of Descartes’ impact on his world and his continuing influence today.
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many travels of the great philosopher’s bones throughout Europe, from his death in Sweden in 1650 until his skull’s current resting place at the Museum of Man in Paris, Shorto recounts how his life and work have been interpreted throughout the centuries, engendering ideas that have shaped the very fabric of Western Civilization.The author is one of those rare history writers who have a gift for making their subjects come alive. With wit and a keen ear for suspense a la Dan Brown, he traces the story of Descartes’ post mortem journey in such a way that keeps his reader both engaged and entertained. Shorto presents the past the way it should be – full of interesting characters and intriguing stories Great events like the French Revolution are illuminated as more than simply the sum of dry dates and dusty facts, but seminal events that happened within the context of continent-wide changes in the way mankind viewed himself and his place in the world. Through Shorto’s superb storytelling skills and his extensive historical knowledge, the reader comes away from this book with a good understanding along with a better appreciation of Descartes’ impact on his world and his continuing influence today.
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LibraryThing member AsYouKnow_Bob
Terrific stuff.
Shorto uses an interesting historical mystery - the fate of Descartes' remains - as a springboard for a short discussion of the history of philosophy and of the Enlightenment AND for a discussion of our current crisis.
Shorto uses an interesting historical mystery - the fate of Descartes' remains - as a springboard for a short discussion of the history of philosophy and of the Enlightenment AND for a discussion of our current crisis.
LibraryThing member readerbynight
Interesting history of philosophy, reason, and science
This has been an unusual trip through the beginning of modern philosophy back in the 1600s to the present. I have not personally studied philosophy, but I found the book easy enough to read. There are many endnotes which in this case I found to
Shorto’s book takes a new look at the beginnings of Descartes’ work and follows through the centuries after his death, showing his effect on science and reason to the present day. However, he has taken an interesting route of demonstration. Descartes never lay quietly in his grave, he was moved through the centuries into various locations, some religious, some not. These relocations of his bones tended to coincide with important turning points in history, harking back to his view of duality and modernism. To make matters more mysterious, the skull was not with the bones. Surprisingly, the skull was located almost 200 years after Descartes’ death and has been authenticated. However, the bones (fragments), presumed carefully handled with each removal and noted, are no longer believed to be authentic. I found the book interesting and different, there are fascinating looks at several historical figures and times. The characters are humanized and real, and I think it would appeal to readers who are inquisitive, like factual science, or history, without sounding like a text-book.
This has been an unusual trip through the beginning of modern philosophy back in the 1600s to the present. I have not personally studied philosophy, but I found the book easy enough to read. There are many endnotes which in this case I found to
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be less distracting than footnotes yet easy enough to look up, and many references. The work is well-researched and written for the average person such as myself. There was a great deal of history showing Descartes’ reasoning, studies, and presentation of the original idea of duality of mind and body. This early beginning formed the basis for all science today, giving him the ‘title’ of the Father or Modernity”..Shorto’s book takes a new look at the beginnings of Descartes’ work and follows through the centuries after his death, showing his effect on science and reason to the present day. However, he has taken an interesting route of demonstration. Descartes never lay quietly in his grave, he was moved through the centuries into various locations, some religious, some not. These relocations of his bones tended to coincide with important turning points in history, harking back to his view of duality and modernism. To make matters more mysterious, the skull was not with the bones. Surprisingly, the skull was located almost 200 years after Descartes’ death and has been authenticated. However, the bones (fragments), presumed carefully handled with each removal and noted, are no longer believed to be authentic. I found the book interesting and different, there are fascinating looks at several historical figures and times. The characters are humanized and real, and I think it would appeal to readers who are inquisitive, like factual science, or history, without sounding like a text-book.
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LibraryThing member michaelbartley
This is an interesting study of how descartes pointed philosophy, science, and culture in a new direction. the author agrues that descarte was the person that started the modern age. he, descarte also started the mind body conflict that still exisit in science and culture. but there is also a human
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side, after descarte died what happen to his bones, esp. his skull. as europe, esp france decide what to do with his bones, that decision making reflexs the conflict and ideas of each age Show Less
LibraryThing member PhyllisHarrison
Descartes is a subject near and dear to my heart . The book is an interesting examination of the battle over one man's bones long after he was gone, illustrating how his ideas had changed the world, inciting both adoration and hatred still, 350 years after his death. He tried to appease the
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establishment, left no great fortune and his only child died, but if anyone doubts that one man can change the course of history, the proof is in Russell Shorto's fascinating little book. Show Less
LibraryThing member Dorritt
This surprisingly readable tale leverages the tale of Descarte’s bones as a framework upon which to hang an engaging exploration of how Descarte’s rationalist philosophy laid the groundwork for today’s modernism. For those of you who I just lost at “rationalist philosophy,” please bear
Come on, think back … remember that “Intro to Philosophy” class you took in college? Descartes, the father of Cartesian rationalism? Mr. “I think, therefore I am?” Remember your professor trying to explain how this simple statement was like a bomb dropped on medieval Europe, advocating as it did the assertion that humans should base their beliefs on their own perception rather than divine revelation? Forever pissing off churches but leading to the adoption of true observation-based scientific discovery? The guy who Cartesian planes in math are named after? Yeah … that guy!
I should have as many adventures in my life as the mortal remains of Rene Descarte! Between repeated interments and disinterments, his bones passed through the hands of queens, intellectuals, poets, mercenaries, French revolutionaries, painters, and promoters. What Shorto does is flesh out (sorry, couldn't resist!) the stories surrounding these postmortem meanderings, building the case that Descarte's bones travelled on a path that paralleled many of the most pivotal historical debates over reason vs. religion, debates which laid the groundwork for modern-day rationality.
Yes, I agree with other critics that Shorto strains a bit in his attempts to relate the bones to the story he really wants to tell. And since I didn’t actually take “Intro to Philosophy,” I’m in no position to quibble with folks who claim Shorto has overstated Descarte’s role in the evolution of modern empirical thought. However, I found this to be a fairly thorough and entertaining exploration of the evolution of rational thought from its stormy beginnings in the 17th century to modern times, including its influence on science, medicine, politics, philosophy and religion along the way. Neither light enough for beach reading nor heavy enough to pass as scholarship, but illuminating and worthwhile for all that.
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with me! For this book is really more history than philosophy, told in a way that most people should find readable and diverting. Come on, think back … remember that “Intro to Philosophy” class you took in college? Descartes, the father of Cartesian rationalism? Mr. “I think, therefore I am?” Remember your professor trying to explain how this simple statement was like a bomb dropped on medieval Europe, advocating as it did the assertion that humans should base their beliefs on their own perception rather than divine revelation? Forever pissing off churches but leading to the adoption of true observation-based scientific discovery? The guy who Cartesian planes in math are named after? Yeah … that guy!
I should have as many adventures in my life as the mortal remains of Rene Descarte! Between repeated interments and disinterments, his bones passed through the hands of queens, intellectuals, poets, mercenaries, French revolutionaries, painters, and promoters. What Shorto does is flesh out (sorry, couldn't resist!) the stories surrounding these postmortem meanderings, building the case that Descarte's bones travelled on a path that paralleled many of the most pivotal historical debates over reason vs. religion, debates which laid the groundwork for modern-day rationality.
Yes, I agree with other critics that Shorto strains a bit in his attempts to relate the bones to the story he really wants to tell. And since I didn’t actually take “Intro to Philosophy,” I’m in no position to quibble with folks who claim Shorto has overstated Descarte’s role in the evolution of modern empirical thought. However, I found this to be a fairly thorough and entertaining exploration of the evolution of rational thought from its stormy beginnings in the 17th century to modern times, including its influence on science, medicine, politics, philosophy and religion along the way. Neither light enough for beach reading nor heavy enough to pass as scholarship, but illuminating and worthwhile for all that.
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LibraryThing member JRexV
A very interesting read. Good story that uses the story of Descartes' remains, particularly his skull, to trace the history of modernism and the relationship over the years of science and religion. Learned a little history, a little philosophy, a little theology - all in an interesting story of a
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lost skull. Show Less
LibraryThing member Sandydog1
A rambling essay on reason and religion, with smatterings of taxonomy, phrenology, mesmerism, the metric system, museums, embryology, comparative anatomy, the French Revolution, chemistry and a few other choice topics. Shorto deals with Cartesian philosophy and the Enlightenment the same way the
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fossil record and the Renaissance are handled in The Seashell on the Mountaintop. I highly recommend both of these science history books. Show Less
LibraryThing member Dorritt
This surprisingly readable tale leverages the tale of Descarte’s bones as a framework upon which to hang an engaging exploration of how Descarte’s rationalist philosophy laid the groundwork for today’s modernism. For those of you who I just lost at “rationalist philosophy,” please bear
Come on, think back … remember that “Intro to Philosophy” class you took in college? Descartes, the father of Cartesian rationalism? Mr. “I think, therefore I am?” Remember your professor trying to explain how this simple statement was like a bomb dropped on medieval Europe, advocating as it did the assertion that humans should base their beliefs on their own perception rather than divine revelation? Forever pissing off churches but leading to the adoption of true observation-based scientific discovery? The guy who Cartesian planes in math are named after? Yeah … that guy!
I should have as many adventures in my life as the mortal remains of Rene Descarte! Between repeated interments and disinterments, his bones passed through the hands of queens, intellectuals, poets, mercenaries, French revolutionaries, painters, and promoters. What Shorto does is flesh out (sorry, couldn't resist!) the stories surrounding these postmortem meanderings, building the case that Descarte's bones travelled on a path that paralleled many of the most pivotal historical debates over reason vs. religion, debates which laid the groundwork for modern-day rationality.
Yes, I agree with other critics that Shorto strains a bit in his attempts to relate the bones to the story he really wants to tell. And since I didn’t actually take “Intro to Philosophy,” I’m in no position to quibble with folks who claim Shorto has overstated Descarte’s role in the evolution of modern empirical thought. However, I found this to be a fairly thorough and entertaining exploration of the evolution of rational thought from its stormy beginnings in the 17th century to modern times, including its influence on science, medicine, politics, philosophy and religion along the way. Neither light enough for beach reading nor heavy enough to pass as scholarship, but illuminating and worthwhile for all that.
Show More
with me! For this book is really more history than philosophy, told in a way that most people should find readable and diverting. Come on, think back … remember that “Intro to Philosophy” class you took in college? Descartes, the father of Cartesian rationalism? Mr. “I think, therefore I am?” Remember your professor trying to explain how this simple statement was like a bomb dropped on medieval Europe, advocating as it did the assertion that humans should base their beliefs on their own perception rather than divine revelation? Forever pissing off churches but leading to the adoption of true observation-based scientific discovery? The guy who Cartesian planes in math are named after? Yeah … that guy!
I should have as many adventures in my life as the mortal remains of Rene Descarte! Between repeated interments and disinterments, his bones passed through the hands of queens, intellectuals, poets, mercenaries, French revolutionaries, painters, and promoters. What Shorto does is flesh out (sorry, couldn't resist!) the stories surrounding these postmortem meanderings, building the case that Descarte's bones travelled on a path that paralleled many of the most pivotal historical debates over reason vs. religion, debates which laid the groundwork for modern-day rationality.
Yes, I agree with other critics that Shorto strains a bit in his attempts to relate the bones to the story he really wants to tell. And since I didn’t actually take “Intro to Philosophy,” I’m in no position to quibble with folks who claim Shorto has overstated Descarte’s role in the evolution of modern empirical thought. However, I found this to be a fairly thorough and entertaining exploration of the evolution of rational thought from its stormy beginnings in the 17th century to modern times, including its influence on science, medicine, politics, philosophy and religion along the way. Neither light enough for beach reading nor heavy enough to pass as scholarship, but illuminating and worthwhile for all that.
Show Less
LibraryThing member cpg
Not bad for pop history
Perhaps inspired by the parallel story of the fate of Einstein's brain, Shorto shares with us the somewhat surprising history of the skeleton--in particular, the skull--of Rene Descartes and uses that tale as a springboard for sharing his (Shorto's) thoughts about naturalist
For popular history, this is pretty good. Shorto writes quite well, and handles an intrinsically controversial subject in a way that I thought was eminently fair and even-handed. Still, I found this book less than completely satisfying. The issues Shorto raises are important and interesting ones, but the nature of this book only allows him to address them in a superficial way. And the story of Descartes' skeleton, while interesting, is a little too thin to hold the reader's attention for very long. Shorto writes for the New York Times Magazine, and this book does have the feel of an extended feature article, one that was perhaps extended a bit too far.
Perhaps inspired by the parallel story of the fate of Einstein's brain, Shorto shares with us the somewhat surprising history of the skeleton--in particular, the skull--of Rene Descartes and uses that tale as a springboard for sharing his (Shorto's) thoughts about naturalist
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versus supernaturalist understandings of the nature of the world and of humanity.For popular history, this is pretty good. Shorto writes quite well, and handles an intrinsically controversial subject in a way that I thought was eminently fair and even-handed. Still, I found this book less than completely satisfying. The issues Shorto raises are important and interesting ones, but the nature of this book only allows him to address them in a superficial way. And the story of Descartes' skeleton, while interesting, is a little too thin to hold the reader's attention for very long. Shorto writes for the New York Times Magazine, and this book does have the feel of an extended feature article, one that was perhaps extended a bit too far.
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LibraryThing member bnbooklady
This is an interesting history of an important philosopher and the impact of his "method," which focused on reason and rationality, on the development of modern thought, science, democracy, and much else. Following his death, Descartes' bones were buried, disinterred, and reburied several times by
I enjoyed the history sections, but the best parts of this book were at the beginning and end, when Shorto ties in Descartes' place in history with his impact and relevance to what is happening in the world today.
Full review at The Book Lady's Blog
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individuals and groups each seeking to support their own agendas, and Shorto traces this journey, using it to create context for the development of modern thought on the world stage.I enjoyed the history sections, but the best parts of this book were at the beginning and end, when Shorto ties in Descartes' place in history with his impact and relevance to what is happening in the world today.
Full review at The Book Lady's Blog
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LibraryThing member nbmars
Shorto has attempted to write, according to the blurb on the cover, “a grand and strange history of the 350-year old debate between religion and science—seen through the oddly momentous journey of the skull and bones of the great French philosopher Rene Descartes.” He succeeded quite well in
The stories of what befell the skull and the bones of the great man took a lot of research to tell. Descartes died in 1650 in Sweden, where he was originally interred. The French nation, however, felt (if a nation can feel) that he was too important for his body to be left in another country, and a predominantly Lutheran one at that. So the body was exhumed, and maybe sent to France. The story of trying to figure out what really happened to the bones and the skull takes up much of the book. It is interesting and complicated, but basically unimportant to people like me who put no stock in relics.
The author expends relatively little ink in discussing the intellectual battle between religion and science of the 18th century that Descartes engendered. What he does say is accurate, but superficial. He is more informative when writing about some of the battles of the 19th century, for example those involving mesmerism, phrenology, and the supposed correlation of cranial capacity with intelligence.
This is a readable book, but it is not all the blurb on the cover seeks to convey. Its philosophy is breezy, but superficial. Its history of the skeleton is careful and painstaking, but ultimately inconsequential.
(JAB)
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telling the very strange story of the peregrinations of Descartes’ skull (one story) and other bones (a second story, since the two entities became physically separated). However, the “grand debate” between religion and science gets short shrift in this 251 page book.The stories of what befell the skull and the bones of the great man took a lot of research to tell. Descartes died in 1650 in Sweden, where he was originally interred. The French nation, however, felt (if a nation can feel) that he was too important for his body to be left in another country, and a predominantly Lutheran one at that. So the body was exhumed, and maybe sent to France. The story of trying to figure out what really happened to the bones and the skull takes up much of the book. It is interesting and complicated, but basically unimportant to people like me who put no stock in relics.
The author expends relatively little ink in discussing the intellectual battle between religion and science of the 18th century that Descartes engendered. What he does say is accurate, but superficial. He is more informative when writing about some of the battles of the 19th century, for example those involving mesmerism, phrenology, and the supposed correlation of cranial capacity with intelligence.
This is a readable book, but it is not all the blurb on the cover seeks to convey. Its philosophy is breezy, but superficial. Its history of the skeleton is careful and painstaking, but ultimately inconsequential.
(JAB)
Show Less
LibraryThing member JRobinW
This book was fascinating in looking at history from a different perspective. Most interesting is the path of Descartes' skull.