Good evening Marvin!
> Marvin Gardner wrote to everyone...
> I'm sending this e-mail out to a heterogeneous group, composed of a
> couple of my "regular" lists plus a few I write to a individuals.
> But I figure you all have a little bit in common, namely our
> unconstitutional and un-American governments. (Federal and states)
Thanks so much for sending this out!
The only problem I might have in all of this is your timeline.
Descarte didn't summarize much of anything, and he certainly didn't
show up after David Hume or John Locke, or summarize the progression
of Libertarian idealism as you certainly suggested he did, by calling
it a "social contract". These are fatal flaws, and the only ones I
discovered in your summary.
Descartes was the 'Father of Western Philosophy', and he is best known
for his abstract reading, which ought to be mandatory for anyone
suggesting common ground in current western thought as well, where he
stated the obvious: "I think... Therefore I am".
I would challenge you to suggest that Descarte ever had any
opportunity at all to read anything John Locke ever wrote, since he
predated all of the other fellows you mention, including David Hume by
a couple hundred years or so.
However, it is true that Descarte certainly helped a great deal in
opening the door toward the possibility of a libertarian idealism or
frame of reference, although he might, at the time, have not realized
it.
I like reading Descartes' Meditations even today. I first read them
in 1967 when I was a Philosophy major at Trinity College in Chicago.
John Locke and others you suggest didn't necessarily follow upon
Descartes train of thought either in the development of western
philosophy. Others did however, and you might not like their results:
some of them happen to be David Hume, whom you mention, but you
reversed the order, as you seem to suggest that Descarte summarized
all of the rest of the above characters you suggested.
Immanuel Kant, and other existentialist philosophers that you left out
had a lot more to do with Descartes challenge to Post-Medevial
thinking.
Descarte seems to be the watershed, or so it appears, to a lot of
variant western philosophical twists and turns, but Libertarians can't
really grab into that and claim it all as their own turf. Karl Marx
for example, also sequestered Descarte as justifying his bent toward
social change in a far different direction that Libertarian thinkers
hence would care to admit.
Probably, in a reasonable fashion, one would have to conclude that
Descarte was the catalyst for almost every conceivable social,
political or religious dogma that western civilization has produced
since... which is why he is referred to often as the "father" of
western political thought in all of its variances and direction ever
since.
Kindest regards,
Frank
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