Descartes’s Cartesian Medicine. Past, Present, and Future

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I reflect on the past, present, and future of Descartes scholarship. By looking specifically at the place of medicine in Descartes’s natural philosophical project, the manner in which Cartesian medicine has been defended, repudiated, and interpreted, and what remains to be studied and understood, I highlight not just the significance of medicine to Descartes and its role in his reception, but also the potentially misleading extremes of scholar’s interpretations and the need for future archival work.