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Descartes' Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict between Faith and Reason | 
 enlarge | Author: Russell Shorto
Publisher: Doubleday
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  39 reviews
Sales Rank: 2939
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 038551753X
Dewey Decimal Number: 194
EAN: 9780385517539
ASIN: 038551753X
Publication Date: October 14, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
On a brutal winter's day in 1650 in Stockholm, the Frenchman René Descartes, the most influential and controversial thinker of his time, was buried after a cold and lonely death far from home. Sixteen years later, the French Ambassador Hugues de Terlon secretly unearthed Descartes' bones and transported them to France.
Why would this devoutly Catholic official care so much about the remains of a philosopher who was hounded from country to country on charges of atheism? Why would Descartes' bones take such a strange, serpentine path over the next 350 years—a path intersecting some of the grandest events imaginable: the birth of science, the rise of democracy, the mind-body problem, the conflict between faith and reason? Their story involves people from all walks of life—Louis XIV, a Swedish casino operator, poets and playwrights, philosophers and physicists, as these people used the bones in scientific studies, stole them, sold them, revered them as relics, fought over them, passed them surreptitiously from hand to hand.
The answer lies in Descartes’ famous phrase: Cogito ergo sum—"I think, therefore I am." In his deceptively simple seventy-eight-page essay, Discourse on the Method, this small, vain, vindictive, peripatetic, ambitious Frenchman destroyed 2,000 years of received wisdom and laid the foundations of the modern world. At the root of Descartes’ “method” was skepticism: "What can I know for certain?" Like-minded thinkers around Europe passionately embraced the book--the method was applied to medicine, nature, politics, and society. The notion that one could find truth in facts that could be proved, and not in reliance on tradition and the Church's teachings, would become a turning point in human history.
In an age of faith, what Descartes was proposing seemed like heresy. Yet Descartes himself was a good Catholic, who was spurred to write his incendiary book for the most personal of reasons: He had devoted himself to medicine and the study of nature, but when his beloved daughter died at the age of five, he took his ideas deeper. To understand the natural world one needed to question everything. Thus the scientific method was created and religion overthrown. If the natural world could be understood, knowledge could be advanced, and others might not suffer as his child did.
The great controversy Descartes ignited continues to our era: where Islamic terrorists spurn the modern world and pine for a culture based on unquestioning faith; where scientists write bestsellers that passionately make the case for atheism; where others struggle to find a balance between faith and reason.
Descartes’ Bonesis a historical detective story about the creation of the modern mind, with twists and turns leading up to the present day—to the science museum in Paris where the philosopher’s skull now resides and to the church a few kilometers away where, not long ago, a philosopher-priest said a mass for his bones.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 34 more reviews...
 Well-Written and Fascinating November 12, 2008
Descartes' Bones, by Russell Shorto, takes the reader on an interesting and compelling journey through 400 years of history in search of the true final resting place of Rene' Descartes, the man arguably responsible for the advent of modern scientific inquiry. Told within the framework of the many travels of the great philosopher's bones throughout Europe, from his death in Sweden in 1650 until his skull's current resting place at the Museum of Man in Paris, Shorto recounts how his life and work have been interpreted throughout the centuries, engendering ideas that have shaped the very fabric of Western Civilization.
The author is one of those rare history writers who have a gift for making their subjects come alive. With wit and a keen ear for suspense a la Dan Brown, he traces the story of Descartes' post mortem journey in such a way that keeps his reader both engaged and entertained. Shorto presents the past the way it should be - full of interesting characters and intriguing stories Great events like the French Revolution are illuminated as more than simply the sum of dry dates and dusty facts, but seminal events that happened within the context of continent-wide changes in the way mankind viewed himself and his place in the world. Through Shorto's superb storytelling skills and his extensive historical knowledge, the reader comes away from this book with a good understanding along with a better appreciation of Descartes' impact on his world and his continuing influence today.
 Descartes' Bones November 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
ISBN 038551753X - It was the "faith and reason" part of the subtitle that made me curious about this book. I've read everything that's come my way on this topic and The Da Vinci Code really opened the floodgates in popular books to feed the obsession. Descartes is just enough of a recognized historical figure for the average, non-philosophy reader, to make the book sound like something it isn't. I think that both the serious philosophy student and the less-informed casual reader will be disappointed.
Beginning with a brief, not too detailed account of Descartes' life, author Shorto attempts to grab a handful of threads and weave them into an engaging story that spans 350 years and all of modernity. Descartes' death and burial in Sweden, the exhumation and removal of his remains to France, and on through several ceremonies celebrating his contributions, these events are something of a centerpiece around which all else in the book revolves as Shorto traces the whereabouts of the philosopher's physical remains and the worldview of religion v science.
The arguments of the accuracy of the information within the book, the theories of both Descartes and Shorto, and the titles and laurels Descartes may or may not deserve, are all interesting debate fodder. Rather than go into those details, I'm trying to stick to a review of the actual book - and it's difficult. The story of Descartes' remains might be fascinating, in a way, but it isn't really the focus of the book. The focus of the book, sadly, is so wide-ranging and so far-reaching, that a casual reader will find themselves a bit bogged down. Dozens of men, over centuries, play a role, and all of their contributions to various sciences are explained. To do this, the central story is repeatedly de-railed, making it very easy to put the book down at almost any time - and not necessarily rush to pick it back up. Worse, to introduce so many high profile people and a brief review of their resumes in under 300 pages hardly does justice to any of them, least of all Descartes.
The most valuable information in the book, for the serious reader, is likely to be the 13-page bibliography. The casual reader will probably find it difficult to finish and harder to care. No argument on the conflict between religion and science is really made and it seems a bit obvious that the author is suddenly rushed, near the end, to GET to the end. The mention of September 11, 2001, might have had a place in a book that stood somewhere specific on the religion/science debate. This book doesn't do that and that makes the September 11th mention gratuitous, a somewhat desperate attempt to stick a bow on a poor wrapping job.
- AnnaLovesBooks
 The skull bone's connected to the neck bone. Or is it? November 10, 2008
Rene Descartes was one of the most influential figures in the Enlightenment. His famous phrase, "I think, therefore I am," was one of the foundational concepts of modern philosophy's approach to the mind-body problem; and his "Discourse on the Method" was one of the seminal works contributing to the rise of science during that time. Descartes died in 1650, but of course his influence on philosophy and science lived on. Interestingly, after his death, Descartes' bodily remains seemed to have retained almost as much life as his philosophical ideas, and that's the focus of "Descartes' Bones." The author provides a "skeletal history" of the journey that Descartes' earthly remains took following his death and uses that journey, with its many twists and turns, as a springboard for discussing the equally restless intellectual ferment of the time, in which the authority of the Catholic Church and the Bible came under increasing pressure from the advance of rational, skeptical, empirical science.
Descartes' postmortem travel is quite a tale all by itself, but the author weaves numerous other strands into his story as well, including the different approaches to science of the French and the English, various responses to Descartes' ideas by religious authorities and other philosophers, the response of Descartes and his supporters, and the French Revolution. There was also quite some controversy about authenticating Descartes' bones at the end of their journey, and it's easy to imagine Descartes himself looking down and smiling with approval as some of the greatest scientists of the day attempted to accomplish that authentication by using the empirical approach that Descartes had championed during his own life.
All in all, an interesting approach to an interesting figure.
I think; therefore, I am November 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Descartes Bones, a book by Russell Shorto
We had the pleasure of meeting the author Russell Shorto at a book review at Books & Books of Coral Gables, Florida. This book store has a wonderful system of introducing authors to local audiences, either at their locations or at a local temple. This time, the author was at the Aragon Avenue store in a real intimate setting, where we heard his book review and were able to ask probing questions about a fascinating topic: Rene Descartes, the father of modern philosophy, the author of that famous line: "I think, therefore I am."
Before reviewing the book, let's provide some background as to the subject of his research. Descartes was born in La Haye en Touraine, France, his mother died of tuberculosis when he was only a year old and his father was a judge in the High Court of Justice. Descartes had the goal of becoming a lawyer like his father and entered a Jesuit College at the tender age of eleven, continuing his studies at the University of Poitiers, where he earned a Bachelor's degree, and finally a License to practice law.
Descartes grew up in a world where traditional Aristotelian philosophy was prevalent, where understanding was based on accepting God and tradition as the source for all knowledge, and where no questions were asked. Descartes set out to change the world, to introduce a "method" based on scientific research and where man was allowed to doubt all knowledge until through scientific methods this knowledge could be proven. Descartes passion was the search for truth and he discovered that he existed because he had thoughts and that the world existed because his mind could study, analyze and learn the secrets of all that surrounded humanity.
Descartes wrote his method and shared it with the world. Soon every branch of science was utilizing his mechanistic model to break down the secrets of plants, animals, human bodies, metaphysics, religion, morality and science as each related to the other. Descartes method understood that up until then, all knowledge was based on a premise and a conclusion, all based on beliefs, therefore conclusions based or derived from a simple premise... are only probable themselves. Through his method, with the assistance of geometry and science, with the guidance of intuition and deductions made from these analyzed facts, new truths surfaced and knowledge was now refreshed to comprehend true analysis.
Descartes started by doubting his deeply held beliefs, understanding that the senses can sometimes deceive and that once something has deceived us, we should no longer trust it. Dreams versus reality was something he researched because he knew reality from sensations, but was he dreaming or actually doing whatever he was thinking? Knowledge based on reason has no chance of doubt... take the summation of any two numbers, i.e. 6 + 8 = 14 and this is in fact true whether we are awake or asleep.
Given the overview on Descartes, the most important contribution of Russell Shorto's book is the way he sets the research against actual events taking place leading to, during and after Descartes changes the world, from one that believed through blind faith to a world that believes through scientific analysis and a conclusion the author plays throughout the book hit home, the fact.. that is what we face today with terrorism. It is based on emotional and religious beliefs, not on a scientific foundation. Thus, the author poses that The Enlightenment has not yet reached some parts of the world where religious beliefs are driving the forces of human behavior.
The book gets tedious at times and the reading is difficult as we followed the bones of Descartes being moved from place to place, or from country to country, but there are many new thoughts sparked by this work.
 Partly Successful November 2, 2008
One virtue of Russell Shorto's text is how easily it flows as it explains the philosophical (epistemological) cunundrums of intellectual inquiry from the seventeenth century to our time, though due attention is paid to the questions as posed from Classical Greek times through the first 16 centuries or so of Christianity. So what we have here is a compact history of Knowledge culminating with Descartes' watershed. Descartes creates modernism (I am purposedly taking Shorto at his word) by establishing objective observation (none greater than "cogito, ergo sum")as the foundation of knowledge and progress and rejecting the aprioristic thinking based on Aristotle and Plato as filtered by Augustine and Aquinas et al. upon which development of knowledge had been based up to that time. Descartes concluded by positing the dualism of mind and body independence, thereby recognizing "objectivism" while preserving his Catholic faith. Of course, the "mind-body problem" remains to this day, but, particularly after Wittgenstein, it is difficult to sustain the notion of respectively independent entities. The book traverses the development of modern science from the Enlightenment through Darwin to present times.
Shorto is a story teller. Rather than develop intellectual themes conceptually, he tells the story of how they came about using as scaffolding the peripatetic progress of Descartes bones and skull, from their initial internment in Sweden to various relocations in France. He attaches some symbolism to such progress which does not mean much to me. It is rather a narrative conceit designed to give elements of "plot" to what is essentially conceptual history.
In short, this is a popularizing text which seeks to illuminate how modern scientific reasoning came into being and knowledge redefined over the past three centuries. Though the goal is immense, Shorto's means are narrow and oversimplified. This is not to say without value. This work is a good introduction to intellectual history and the development of scientific methodology for the general reader, which, by leaving her/him hungry and unsatisfied, will nonetheless provide motivation for further reading and speculation. It will be obvious that there is more to how mankind got to know what, as of today, it knows (and the pseudo knowledge it had to jettison) than this book delivers, and the central position given to Descartes in this narrative is, at the very least, controversial. Nonetheless, for most readers, Mr. Shorto's book will be an efficient, perhaps stimulating, start.
The writing is reader-friendly, a necessity for the type of book it is and the subject matter covered. The Preface is essential reading, and the notes are illuminating.
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