French Literature Reviews - 2026

É. Cassan, Les Chemins cartésiens du jugement
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas

Elodie Cassan, Les Chemins cartésiens du jugement, Paris, Champion, 2015, 152 p.

ISBN: 978-2-7453-2808-3

Price: 38 euros.

The fact that Descartes appears to relegate formal considerations to the background does not indicate any indifference on his part toward logic. By characterizing science as an articulation of judgments, he draws upon a concept widely prevalent in early 17th-century logic. This study of Cartesian pathways of judgment thus demonstrates the persistent role of logical concerns in shaping the philosophical discourse typically seen as definitive of modernity.

Agrégée in philosophy, Ph.D. in the history of modern philosophy; associate member of CERPHI (UMR 5037), high school teacher (Académie de Créteil).

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chapter I. Problems in Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I.1 Theories of Judgment at the Beginning of the 17th Century:
Formalism and Discursivity
I.1.1 Late Scholasticism: Judgment as Proposition .
I.1.2 Ramus: Judgment as the Arrangement of Invented Elements
I.1.3 Francis Bacon: Judgment as the Organization of Empirical Materials
Collected Methodically
I.2 Practical Judgment and the Practice of Judgment: Montaigne

Chapter II. Descartes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
II.1 The Discourse of Science: A Chain of Judgments
II.1.1 A Functional Use of the Concept of Judgment
II.1.2 The Epistemic Limits of Categorical Predication
II.1.3 Developing the Capacity for Sound Judgment
II.2 Judging: A Bipartite Operation
II.2.1 Vision as a Judicative Operation Conditioning the
Adequate Grasp of Exteriority
II.2.2 Judging: Assenting to a Clear and Distinct Content

Chapter III. Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
III.1 The Impossibility of Explaining Bodies through Qualities
III.2 The Implementation of the Order of Thought in
Cosmogony
III.3 Morality: The Redeployment of the Judgment of Cognition

Chapter IV. Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
IV.1 The Port-Royal Logic: A Non-Cartesian Theory of Judgment
IV.2 Malebranche: Judgment as the Driving Force of
Scientific Development
Bibliography
Index

The early 17th century was a period of transition in logical theory, marked by a move away from late Scholastic models that defined judgment primarily as a proposition. Thinkers of this era, including Pierre de la Ramée and Francis Bacon, sought to redefine the mechanics of thought through different approaches to arrangement and empirical organization. This intellectual landscape also included the influence of essayists like Montaigne, who emphasized the practical dimensions of human judgment. By situating Descartes within this broader context, Les Chemins cartésiens du jugement examines how his scientific discourse interacts with theories of discursivity and formal logic.

Cassan examines how Descartes integrates the concept of judgment into his scientific framework, moving beyond categorical predication. The work traces how this operation functions as a bipartite process, involving both the perception of exteriority and the act of assenting to clear and distinct ideas. These principles are examined through their application to physical science, cosmogony, and moral philosophy. By contrasting this Cartesian approach with later developments found in the Port-Royal Logic and the work of Malebranche, the text illustrates the evolution of these ideas. Readers interested in the history of early modern philosophy may find it relevant.