This work investigates how French Cartesian philosophers during the late seventeenth century redefined the nature of scientific explanation by establishing it as a fundamentally hypothetical endeavor. Desmond M. Clarke, a scholar of seventeenth-century philosophy, analyzes the intellectual output of figures such as Malebranche, Rohault, Cordemoy, Gadroys, Poisson, and Régis. By examining their writings between 1660 and 1700, the author demonstrates how these thinkers shifted the focus of natural philosophy from seeking absolute certainty to constructing explanatory models. This framework provided a new conceptual foundation for scientific inquiry that persisted long after the specific Cartesian theories were superseded.

Scholars recognize this text as a rigorous examination of the transition in early modern scientific methodology. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which serves as a foundational resource for those studying the history of Cartesianism and the evolution of scientific explanation.