The Cambridge Companion to Early Modern Philosophy

This is one of the best CUP companion's I've encountered. In a series of topically-oriented articles, leading scholars of the period provide helpful and interesting overviews of the major developments in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century European philosophy. Fortunately, this volume avoids the epistemologically-centered approach that characterized the historiography of earlier generations. Instead the reader is provided with systematic and insightful treatments of the central trends in a variety of fields--from metaphysics and philosophy of mind and action to moral theory, political philosophy, and theology. Attention is also given to shared methodological commitments and the larger cultural context. Pitched at just the right level of difficulty, this collection will prove useful to professors, grad students, and advanced undergraduates. A genuine resource.