Attention et simultanéité intellectuelle chez Descartes, Clauberg et Spinoza

Abstract. – is paper deals with a classical problem, can we think or apprehend many things at once ? as it was understood and solved by Descartes and its followers. e idea that we can apprehend di erent ideas at once is central in Descartes’ theory of knowledge, especially in the Rules, and it relies on the claim that attention can be divided between two objects or ideas. Clauberg considers on the contrary that the imagination alone can graps things simultaneously and holds the living body as the true paradigm of simultaneous activity. Spinoza has a synthetic point of view : simultaneity within the body and the mind are expressions of the power of the individ- ual and of his develoment. Attention is no more a condition of intellectual simultaneity, as in Descartes, but is rather an obstacle which needs to be overcome to reach a richer and better understanding of reality.