Cartesianism (Britannica article)

Watson, Richard A. "Cartesianism." Encyclopaedia Britannica: Macropaedia. 1974.

Elegant summary of Cartesian thought from slightly after Rene Descartes, "the father of modern philosophy" (968), through Benedict de Spinoza's mechanistic approaches to understanding the physical universe, human beings, and other animals, up to Noam Chomsky and contemporary forms of "the old Cartesian questions: how can machines think? That is, how can computers be self-conscious"—in the formulation we use, possess AI? (970). See in this Category of the Wiki, R. Descartes[1]; T. Hobbes; D. Hofstadter; J. R. Munson and R. C. York; D. S. Robinson; C. Sagan, "Life"; J. C. J. Smart; B. de Spinoza; S. E. Toulmin; R. S. Westfall. (Links are provided at the end of the entry for Descartes, so follow the note-number link above.)