Modern Project to Rigor

Patrick Madigan is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University.

...a very useful, thoughtful reflection woven out of a single threading theme: that Descartes' project to defeat the sceptic initiates a relentless pursuit of reason-as-rigor, wherein this reason impregnated with the seeds of suspicion (Descartes' malin genie) increasingly threatens the very freedom that launched the 'modern project to rigor.' What is especially praiseworthy is the author's success in displaying, with broad brush strokes, accented by occasional detail, a vital lineage between Descartes and Nietzsche. Review of Metaphysics ...a very useful, thoughtful reflection woven out of a single threading theme: that Descartes' project to defeat the sceptic initiates a relentless pursuit of reason-as-rigor, wherein this reason impregnated with the seeds of suspicion (Descartes' malin genie) increasingly threatens the very freedom that launched the 'modern project to rigor.' What is especially praiseworthy is the author's success in displaying, with broad brush strokes, accented by occasional detail, a vital lineage between Descartes and Nietzsche. Review of Metaphysics