Heidegger concurs with the widely accepted opinion that Descartes, rather
than Francis Bacon, was the founder of modernity. In " What is a Thing?" he
writes:" Modern philosophy is usually considered to have begun with
Descartes (1596-1650) , who lived a generation after Galileo.
Contrary to the attempts which appear from time to time to have modern
philosophy begin with Meister Eckhart or in the time between Eckhart or
Descartes, we must adhere to the usual beginning. The only question is how
one understands Descartes philosophy." ( Reprinted in Basic Writings, Modern
Science, Metaphysics and Mathematics)
Because Heidegger tends to understand the history of the west as a
consequence of metaphysical postions, raher than on the basis of
philosphical reflections on human good and excelellence, he emphasizes the
ontology of the ego cogitans, in B&T and other writings on Descartes.
While he rightly rejects the conventional picture of Descartes as concerned
to combat skepticism, his writings on Descartes share some of the
conventional treatment of the Meditiations as a work of earnest metaphysics.
But perhaps the metaphysics of the Meditations is , as the Descartes
scholar Charles Adam put it, " a flag to cover the goods". Descartes wrote
his friend Mersenne that the secret purpose of the Meditiations was to
establish his physics and destroy those of Aristotle. Others have pointed
out that the Meditations can be read as an elaborate parody of Layola,
founder of the Jesuit order.
Contemporary analytical philosophers have read Descartes as a befuddled and
confused pre--Wittgensteinian, guilty of the private language falacy etc.
Or as Bernard Williams has put it, in an utterly wrong-headed
interpretation, he is undertaking a Project of Pure Inquiry. This
interpretation cannot connect the project of the Meditations with the
Baconian project in the Discourse to become " masters and possessors of
nature". Because they do not know how to read Descartes, the real
influence of Bacon as the spiritual predecessor of Descartes is not
understood. Bacon is today neglected and ignored in philosophy
departments: he was rediscovered by Nietzsche towards the end of his career:
" Twilight of the Idols" is a clear Baconian reference. This has been
discussed in Laurence Lampert's recent book on Nietzsche and Bacon.
The interpretation of Descartes mentioned here has been put forward in
detail by Hiram Caton in The Origin of Subjectivity and numerous other
essays. The neglect of Bacon is particularly striking in Heidegger given
his emphasis on technology as the consumation of modern metaphysics. But
perhaps there are references to Bacon in the Gesamtausgabe that I am not
aware of.
Lawrence Casse
resonanc@xxxxxxxxxx
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