The intricate vicissitudes of Cartesian philosophy, its various interpretations
and the fates of the “Cartesian encyclopedia”, are inseparable from the
numerous ‘mythologies’ – i.e. distorting discourses – that have accompanied it.
From the Mind-Body Problem to the distinction between thinking and understanding, to Descartes’ consideration of religion and the uses of Cartesianism
beyond Descartes’ work, and often against him, in the fields of factual matters,
erudition and historical criticism. Borghero offers a rich and comprehensive
picture of Cartesian philosophy itself, modified and transformed, attempting to
explain the philosophical nature of those ‘mythological’ constructions and the
reasons for their fortune. The picture reinforces the historical importance of the
Cartesian encyclopedia, beyond its narrow scope, relating to the ‘geometric’ sciences of nature, and the pervasive value of the Skeptical and Pyrrhonian uses of
its philosophy, with outcomes that finally demonstrate the plural character that
such an encyclopedia takes on until the age of the ‘waning Enlightenment’.