Una difficile libertà. Virtù, conatus, conoscenza in Descartes e Spinoza

digital

Articolo

Rivista

RIVISTA DI FILOSOFIA NEO-SCOLASTICA

Fascicolo

RIVISTA DI FILOSOFIA NEO-SCOLASTICA - 2020 - 2. Ethica e Passions de l’âme Spinoza con e contro Descartes

Titolo

Una difficile libertà. Virtù, conatus, conoscenza in Descartes e Spinoza

A Difficult Freedom. Virtue, conatus, Knowledge in Descartes and Spinoza

Autore

Diego Donna

Editore

Vita e Pensiero

Formato

Articolo |

Pdf

Online da

07-2020

Doi

10.26350/001050_000193

Issn

0035-6247 (stampa) | 1827-7926 (digitale)

€ 6,00

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Descrizione

In this contribution, I will concentrate on Descartes and Spinoza’s respective notions of «virtue», using them as a testing ground to understand two opposing conceptions of man and the sphere of the passions. Descartes’ reflection on virtue, understood as a magnanimity of the soul that ensues from a rational love of oneself, falls into the framework of the unity between mind and body elaborated in the Sixth Meditation and further discussed in his correspondence dating to the ’40s with Elisabeth and Pierre Chanut, as well as in the Passions de l’âme. Spinoza’s virtue, instead, is subordinated to a force (conatus) that coincides with the «essence» of man. This essence, as is explained in the third part of the Ethica, depends on the power of the infinite substance, causa sui in each existing mode. Descartes’ reflection on virtue extends the res cogitans into the realm of the affects (res sentiens), that he places within an integrated conception of man. Now, how can a law of nature, that by Spinoza’s own admission comes before (E4P22) all modal determinations – whether active or passive – be the «essence» that explains or the «cause» that produces the passage from human bondage to freedom? If considered against the backdrop of the natural effort to conserve oneself, these terms will reveal an insoluble conflict.