John Bolton, our acting UN representative, used the term "cartesian magnitude" to describe a state of intractable disagreement that had not yet been reached in the matter of developing a multinational force for Lebanon. The term "cartesian magnitude" in such a context perplexed me. Can someone shed light on its derivation?
2006-08-03 05:57:20 · 1 answers · asked by rolanddumas 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
Aware that it is in reference to Rene Descartes, father of modern philosophy, etc., and not in reference to cartesian coordinate or related math and geometry.
2006-08-03 08:14:54 · update #1
within the philosophical literature, I can't find reference to anything of a cartesian magnitude or other references to use of cartesian in this kind of context. Am curious if there is something in there, or if Bolton was pulling it out of his ***.
2006-08-03 08:16:30 · update #2
Perhaps it has something to do with the French philosopher Rene Descartes.
Since many consider him the father of modern philosophy, something of Cartesian magnitude would pose an extremely high degree of sophistication to deal with.
2006-08-03 08:05:29 · answer #1 · answered by SPLATT 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋