René Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy

A dual-language edition presenting Descartes's original Latin text of his greatest work, with a facing-page authoritative English translation.

John Cottingham's much acclaimed translation of Descartes's philosophical masterpiece, Meditations on First Philosophy, is now presented in a facing-page edition alongside Descartes's original Latin text. The invaluable dual-language format, long valued by students and readers of ancient classical literature, is now available for this essential text of the early modern period.Descartes's Meditations on First Philosophy, published in Latin in 1641, is one of the most widely studied philosophical texts of all time, and inaugurates many of the key themes that have remained central to philosophy ever since. In his original Latin text Descartes expresses himself with great lucidity and elegance, and there is enormous interest, even for those who are not fluent in Latin, in seeing how the famous concepts and arguments of his great masterpiece unfold in the original language. John Cottingham's acclaimed English translation of the work is presented here in a facing-page edition alongside the original Latin text. Students of classical philosophy have long had the benefit of dual-language editions, and the availability of such a resource for the canonical works of the early-modern period is long overdue. This volume now makes available, in an invaluable dual-language format, one of the most seminal texts of Western philosophy.