Routledge Studies in Seventeenth-Century Philosophy
About the Book Series
Routledge Studies in Seventeenth Century Philosophy publishes significant contributions to the study of this key period in philosophy. It covers studies of single authors as well as principal philosophical areas. More generally it reflects the work of a generation of historians of philosophy who combine historical sensitivity with philosophical vigour.
Continental Empiricism: Rethinking Experience and Experiments in Early Modern Continental Philosophy and Science
1st Edition
Edited
By Rodolfo Garau, Arnaud Pelletier
May 22, 2026
This volume explores the relevance, richness, and influence of empiricism in 16th- and 17th-century European philosophy. It features original essays from leading scholars of early modern empiricism. Early modern philosophy is often divided by the categories of Continental Rationalism and British ...
Spinoza, Metaphysics, and the Possibility of Salvation: The Finite in the Infinite
1st Edition
By Olli Koistinen
December 25, 2025
This book offers a novel interpretation of Spinoza’s basic metaphysics of God, body, and mind. It considers the fundamental question of how finite things, especially human minds, are in God. Moreover, because for Spinoza God is identical with the universe, the question becomes how finite things are...
Powers and Abilities in Early Modern Philosophy
1st Edition
Edited
By Sebastian Bender, Dominik Perler
November 27, 2025
This book explores different accounts of powers and abilities in early modern philosophy. It analyzes powers and abilities as a package, hopefully enabling us to better understand them both and to see similarities as well as dissimilarities. While some prominent early modern accounts of power have ...
Cartesianism and Philosophy of Mind
1st Edition
Edited
By Vili Lähteenmäki, Oberto Marrama, Jani Sinokki
November 12, 2025
This book explores themes in the philosophy of mind as they emerge within the early modern Cartesian tradition. It brings together 13 contributions from international scholars to provide a fine‑grained account of how 17th‑century thinkers scrutinized and re‑interpreted Descartes’ doctrines about ...
Descartes’s Moral Perfectionism
1st Edition
By Frans Svensson
September 28, 2025
This book offers a novel and comprehensive interpretation of Descartes’s moral philosophy. In contrast to other influential interpretations, the book argues that the central tenet of his ethical thought is that each person ought to live in the way that is most conducive to their degree of overall ...
Leibniz, Classical Theism, and the Problem of Evil: Why Classical Theism Must Affirm That Our World is the Best of All Possible Worlds
1st Edition
By Nathan A. Jacobs
July 30, 2025
This volume offers a defense of Leibniz’s theodicy and his infamous claim that our world is the best of all possible worlds. It considers Leibniz’s rationale for “optimism,” examines its roots in ancient and medieval thought, and forwards a novel rereading of Leibniz’s theory of freedom in light of...
A Pluralist’s Guide to Solving Molyneux’s Problem
1st Edition
By Brian Glenney
December 31, 2024
This book presents a novel pluralist strategy for answering Molyneux’s 300+-year-old conundrum: Would a person, born blind but given sight, identify a shape previously known only by their touch? The author interweaves historical scholarship with contemporary philosophical work and empirical ...
Pierre Gassendi: Humanism, Science, and the Birth of Modern Philosophy
1st Edition
Edited
By Delphine Bellis, Daniel Garber, Carla Rita Palmerino
October 07, 2024
Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655) was a major figure in seventeenth-century philosophy and science and his works contributed to shaping Western intellectual identity. Among “new philosophers,” he was considered Descartes’s main rival, and he belonged to the first rank of those attempting to carve out an ...
The Cartesian Brain: Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives
1st Edition
Edited
By Denis Kambouchner, Damien Lacroux, Tad M. Schmaltz, Ruidan She
September 23, 2024
This volume presents new research on Cartesian psychophysiology that combines historical and textual analysis with a consideration of recent advances in contemporary neuroscience research. It seeks to explain why the Cartesian theory of the brain and its communication with the mind still offer a ...
Locke’s Twilight of Probability: An Epistemology of Rational Assent
1st Edition
By Mark Boespflug
August 26, 2024
This book provides a systematic treatment of Locke’s theory of probable assent, and shows how the theory applies to Locke’s philosophy of science, moral epistemology, and religious epistemology. There is a powerful case to be made that the most important dimension of Locke’s philosophy is his ...
The Cartesian Semantics of the Port Royal Logic
1st Edition
By John N. Martin
June 13, 2022
This book sets out for the first time in English and in the terms of modern logic the semantics of the Port Royal Logic (La Logique ou l’Art de penser, 1662-1685) of Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole, perhaps the most influential logic book in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its goal is to explain how...
Freedom, Action, and Motivation in Spinoza’s "Ethics"
1st Edition
Edited
By Noa Naaman-Zauderer
September 30, 2021
The present volume posits the themes of freedom, action, and motivation as the central principles that drive Spinoza’s Ethics from its first part to its last. It assembles essays by internationally leading scholars who provide different, sometimes opposing interpretations of these fundamental ...