Cartesian Meditations

Books

§ 1. Descartes' Meditations as the prototype of philosophical reflection. I have partieular reason for being glad that I may talk about transeendental phenomenology in this, the most venerable abode of Freneh seienee.l Franee's greatest thinker, Rene Deseartes, gave transeendental phenomenology new impulses through his Meditations; their study aeted quite direetly on the transfor­ mation of an already developing phenomenology into a new kind of transeendental philosophy. Aeeordingly one might almost eall transeendental phenomenology a neo-Cartesianism, even though it is obliged-and preeisely by its radieal development of Cartesian motifs - to rejeet nearly all the well-known doe­ trinal eontent of the Cartesian philosophy. That being the situation, I ean already be assured of your interest if I start with those motifs in the M editationes de prima philosophia that have, so I believe, an eternal signifieanee and go on to eharaeterize the transformations, and the novel for­ mations, in whieh the method and ...