Educated at University of London (BA, 1974) and University of Cambridge (PhD, 1977). Currently Professor of History of Philosophy and History of Science, University of Sydney. Previous Books include: Explanatory Structures (1978), Descartes: Philosophy, Mathematics and Physics (1980), Cartesian Logic (1989), Descartes, An Intellectual Biography (1995), Descartes: The World and Other Writings (Cambridge University Press, 1998), The Soft Underbelly of Reason (1998), Descartes' System of Natural Philosophy (2000) and Francis Bacon and the Transformation of Early Modern Philosophy (2001).

• Introduction; 1. Before the Principia; 2. The scholastic textbook tradition; 3. Part I: the principles of knowledge; 4. Part II: the principles of material objects; 5. Part III: the visible universe; 6. Part IV: the earth; 7. Part V: living things; 8. Part VI: man.

'Gaukroger's book provides many insights into the sturcture and function of Descartes' natural philosophy and should provoke fruitful discussions in the relevant areas of Cartesian and Early Modern study.' Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews