only in the sense that it was now in existence as a commanding motive in Western civilization and was a rival to Christian faith. The various philosophers of the Renaissance gave exotic forms to this Hermetic tradition. In Descartes, the same faith appears, not derived from the occultist tradition but from a common concept of being, as the fountainhead of the new philosophical tradition. Supposedly, the “Copernican Revolution” gave man a cosmic perspective. In reality, with Descartes, modern man