| Year | Book | Subject | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1637 | Discourse de la methode; Meteores, La dioptrique, La geometrie. | Philosophical discourse on Cartesian method with applications to meteorology, dioptrics, and geometry. | Laid foundation for the mechanical philosophy; strongly anti-Aristotelian. |
| 1641 | Meditationes de prima philosophia | Essay on metaphysical and epistemological underpinnings of Cartesian philosophy. | Clarified relationship between skepticism & dogmatism in separating science and religion, mind and matter. |
| 1644 | Principia philosophiae | General but systematic discussion of physics. | French edition, 1647. established mechanical philosophy as cosmological alternative to scholastic Aristotelianism. |
| 1649 | Les passions de l'ame | Physiological psychology. | Systematic and mechanistic study of nature and organisms. |
| [1664] | Le monde, ou Traite de la lumiere | Systematic cosmology; physics; optics. | Suppressed by Descartes himself in wake of Galileo's condemnation; Le monde was published posthumously. |
| [1664] | L'Homme | Anatomy, physiology; physics of perception. | Companion volume to above, laid foundation for man as machine. |