Philippe Hamou and Martine Pecharman (eds.), Locke and Cartesian Philosophy

The book offers a detailed reconstruction of Locke’s relationship to Des-cartes and Cartesian philosophy, breaking ground with its innovative approach. As Philippe Hamou and Martine Pécharman explain in the Introduction, the volume aims to shift the focus of the comparison between Locke and Descartes from epistemological issues, which were the main concern of previous histori-ography, to physical, metaphysical and religious matters, so as to shed new light on the complex relation between the two philosophers and foster a better un-derstanding of the epistemological debate engendered by them. Accordingly, the many contributions collected in the book analyse various aspects of Locke’s relationship to Descartes, highlighting their disagreement on some crucial is-sues but also, surprisingly, the essential dependence of the former’s position on Cartesian premises.