Richard Watson (philosopher) Richard Watson (philosopher) Richard A. Watson (born 1931) is an American philosopher, speleologist and author. Watson taught philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis for forty years. He is considered one of the foremost living authorities on Descartes. He is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy for Washington University in St. Louis. He has a degree in geology specializing in "paleoclimatology of 10,000 years ago." This involved the development of agrarian societies in the Fertile Crescent. From July 1965 to July 1967, he was president of the Cave Research Foundation. His book, "Cogito, Ergo Sum: a life of René Descartes" was
Cogito and the History of Madness Cogito and the History of Madness "Cogito and the History of Madness" is a paper by Jacques Derrida that critically responds to Michel Foucault's book the "History of Madness". In this paper, Derrida questions the intentions and feasibility of Foucault's book, particularly in relation to the historical importance attributed by Foucault to the treatment of madness by Descartes in the "Meditations on First Philosophy". Derrida's paper began a high-profile exchange between Derrida and Foucault as well as a considerable amount of attention from scholars. Foucault responded directly to Derrida in an appendix added to the 1972 edition of the "History