THE MEDITATIONS (ANNOTATED BY HEGEL) / LES MÉDITATIONS

In this new Edition:

1- The Meditations of René Descartes followed by the French text.

“Meditations on First Philosophy” in which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated is a philosophical treatise by René Descartes first published in Latin in 1641. The French translation (by the Duke of Luynes with Descartes’ supervision) was published in 1647 as Méditations Métaphysiques.

The book is made up of six meditations, in which Descartes first discards all belief in things that are not absolutely certain, and then tries to establish what can be known for sure. He wrote the meditations as if he had meditated for six days: each meditation refers to the last one as “yesterday”. (In fact, Descartes began work on the Meditations in 1639.). One of the most influential philosophical texts ever written.

2- Annotations by Hegel. Extract from “HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY” :

Part Three: Modern Philosophy.

Section Two: Period of the Thinking Understanding

Chapter I. – The Metaphysics of the Understanding / 1-Descartes.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 – 1831) was a German philosopher and an important figure of German idealism. He achieved wide recognition in his day and—while primarily influential within the continental tradition of philosophy—has become increasingly influential in the analytic tradition as well. Although Hegel remains a divisive figure, his canonical stature within Western philosophy is universally recognized.

Regarding BERTRAND RUSSELL (Nobel Laureate, 1950) in “The Problems of Philosophy” (1912), Bibliographical Note:

The student who wishes to acquire an elementary knowledge of philosophy will find it both easier and more profitable to read some of the works of the great philosophers than to attempt to derive an all-round view from handbooks. The following are specially recommended:

Plato: Republic, especially Books VI and VII.

Descartes: Meditations.

Spinoza: Ethics.

Leibniz: The Monadology.

Berkeley: Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous.

Hume: Enquiry concerning Human Understanding.

Kant: Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics.