On the Cartesian Philosophical Breakthrough Once Again

Abstract

In is unquestionable that Cartesian thinking on man and the world surrounding him constituted a breakthrough in the philosophical tradition whose origins reach back to ancient times. It is, however, debatable what this breakthrough was about and how far it strayed off the path set by Descartes's adversaries. The propositions occuring in this matter claim that much relies here not only on what Descartes had to give, but also what sort of significance is attached to  his propositions. In these remarks I will recall some examples of different understandings and presentations of the Cartesian breakthrough. I mean here not just to show how varied the scale of attached significance  could be and in fact is, but more to deliver a point of reference for the understanding of the issue proposed by me. Although it does not differ under every circumstance from every existing picture of it, it is closer however to some and further away from others. In other words, in my opinion what belongs to the most significant features of the Cartesian breakthrough is putting the whole stake in the wager for the truth on the cognitive force of the human intellect and, what is nonetheless important, faith in the fact that this power of the human mind is capable of dealing with the most complicated issues and that those which it cannot handle are in fact not worth the interest of a Cartesian philosopher.