This volume draws a balanced picture of the Rationalists by bringing their intellectual contexts, sources and full range of interests into sharper focus, without neglecting their core commitment to the epistemological doctrine that earned them their traditional label. The collection of original essays addresses topics ranging from theodicy and early modern music theory to Spinozäs anti-humanism, often critically revising important aspects of the received picture of the Rationalists. Another important contribution of the volume is that it brings out aspects of Rationalist philosophers and their legacies that are not ordinarily associated with them, such as the project of a Cartesian ethics. Finally, a strong emphasis is placed on the connection of the Rationalists¿ philosophy to their interests in empirical science, to their engagement in the political life of their era, and to the religious background of many of their philosophical commitments.

Original essays by well-known scholars in the field, resulting from new research on the Rationalists

Introduction; Carlos Fraenkel, Dario Perinetti, Justin Smith.- Part I Continuities between the Premodern and the Modern.- 1. Descartes on the Human Nature and the Human Good; Lisa Shapiro.- 2. Spinoza on Philosophy and Religion: The Averroistic Sources; Carlos Fraenkel.- 3. Music, Mechanics and `Mixed Mathematics¿; Alison Laywine.- Part II Creating Traditions.- 4. Ethics in Descartes and Seventeenth Century Cartesian Textbooks; Roger Ariew.- 5. Louis Bourguet and the Model of Organic Bodies; François Duchesneau.- Part III Rethinking Spinoza.- 6. ¿Nemo non videt¿: Intuitive Knowledge and the Question of Spinozäs Elitism; Hasana Sharp.- 7. Rationalism versus Subjective Experience: The Problem of the Two Minds in Spinoza; Syliane Malinowski-Charles.- Part IV Legacies of Rationalism.- 8. Spinozäs Anti-Humanism: An Outline; Yitzhak Y. Melamed.- 9. Spinoza, Leibniz, and the Gods of Philosophy; Steven Nadler.- 10.Leibniz on Infinite Beings and Non-Beings; Ohad Nachtomy.- 11.Grounding the Principle of Sufficient Reason: Leibnizian Rationalism and the Humean Challenge; Brandon C. Look.- Name Index.- Subject Index.