Richard A. Watson is a well-known scholar of Descartes and Cartesianism. Among other books, he has published The Breakdown of Cartesian Metaphysics, Representational Ideas from Plato to Patricia Churchland, Cogito Ergo Sum: The Life of René Descartes, and Descartes's Ballet: His Doctrine of the Will and His Political Philosophy (St. Augustine's Press). He has also published three philosophical novels, most notably Niagara.