Glauser, Richard

1996-5-7, Glauser, Richard

Glauser examines Descartes's proofs of the existence of bodies in the Meditations and the Principles, and studies Leibniz's criticism of the second proof. He argues that Leibniz's objections in the Animadversions must be understood against the background of: (1) Leibniz's own conception of our certainty of the existence of bodies, which depends on (2) Leibniz's metaphysics of the nature of bodies, and (3) his profound transformation of the hypothesis of a divine deceiver in his own system. Given these background assumptions, it appears that Leibniz's criticism presupposes a radical transformation of the question Descartes was attempting to answer.