Descartes' Bones
A Skeletal History of the Conflict between Faith and Reason| By: | Russell Shorto |
| Publisher: | Random House Digital Inc. |
| Print ISBN: | 9780385517539 |
| eText ISBN: | 9780385528375 |
| Edition: | 0 |
| Copyright: | 2008 |
| Format: | Reflowable |
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Sixteen years after René Descartes' death in Stockholm in 1650, a pious French ambassador exhumed the remains of the controversial philosopher to transport them back to Paris. Thus began a 350-year saga that saw Descartes' bones traverse a continent, passing between kings, philosophers, poets, and painters. But as Russell Shorto shows in this deeply engaging book, Descartes' bones also played a role in some of the most momentous episodes in history, which are also part of the philosopher's metaphorical remains: the birth of science, the rise of democracy, and the earliest debates between reason and faith. Descartes' Bones is a flesh-and-blood story about the battle between religion and rationalism that rages to this day. A New York Times Notable Book