This book offers a novel and comprehensive interpretation of
Descartes’s moral philosophy. In contrast to other influential
interpretations, the book argues that the central tenet of his ethical
thought is that each person ought to live in the way that is most
conducive to their degree of overall perfection. While Descartes’s
ethical thought has attracted only a very modest amount of attention
among scholars, this book demonstrates that it constitutes an
important and integral component of his philosophical project as a
whole. It argues that Descartes’s ethics constitutes a form of moral
perfectionism. In the Cartesian picture, we satisfy this requirement
of perfection by using our free will well in all our conduct,
something which is also necessary for obtaining happiness for
ourselves. To be guaranteed happiness, however, we need to acquire the
virtue of generosity, which, besides a habit of using one’s free
will well, entails a habit of being attentive in one’s thought to
various truths about oneself and about the world we live in. Descartes
offers an interesting attempt to make living well depend entirely on
ourselves and not on fate or fortune. He also leaves room for the
presence of passions within such a life and for acknowledging that
even fully virtuous persons’ lives may differ in their degrees of
overall perfection. Descartes’s Moral Perfectionism will appeal to
scholars and graduate students working on Descartes, the history of
early modern philosophy, and the history of ethics.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781040024225
Publisert
2024
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Taylor & Francis
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter