University of Toronto Press The Matter of Mind: Reason and Experience in the Age of Descartes

What influence did Rene Descartes' concept of mind-body dualism have on early modern conceptions of the self? In The Matter of Mind, Christopher Braiderchallenges the presumed centrality of Descartes' groundbreaking theory to seventeenth-century French culture. He details the broad opposition to rational self-government among Descartes' contemporaries, and attributes conventional links between Descartes and the myth of the 'modern subject' to post-structuralist assessments.The Matter of Mind presents studies drawn from a range of disciplines and examines the paintings of Nicolas Poussin, the drama of Pierre Corneille, and the theology of Blaise Pascal. Braider argues that if early modern thought converged on a single model, then it was the experimental picture based on everyday experience proposed by Descartes' sceptical adversary, Michel de Montaigne. Forceful and provocative, The Matter of Mind will encourage lively debate on the norms and discourses of seventeenth-century philosophy. Review 'The Matter of Mind is an imposing, extremely well-researched intellectual project that aims to redirect critical attention away from the Cartesian mind-body split as the proscriptive norm of the Classical Age, a period whose heterogeneity belies precisely any such clear-cut impositions. Christopher Braider brings to this endeavour an impressive and compelling mastery of the critical traditions of a variety of authors and artists, offering carefully constructed, erudite readings of their texts and paintings. For once, we have a scholar of seventeenth-century thought whose knowledge and critical acumen is capable of switching mimetic registers and applying, in ways very few other scholars are capable of doing, this acumen to the field of art history.' - Mitchell Greenberg, Department of Romance Studies, Cornell University 'This book is a thought provoking contribution to early modern French studies.' - Paul Scott - French Review vol 88:02:2014 'All of them [readers] will most likely be impressed with the intellectual range and critical acumen displayed by Braider throughout this highly stimulating study.' - Edward Ousselin - French Studies, vol 66:04:2012 About the Author Christopher Braider is a professor in the Department of French and Italian at the University of Colorado at Boulder.