WHAT VALUES DID DESCARTES DEFEND IN HIS DISPUTE WITH VOETIUS?

Abstract

For the first time in Russian philosophy, an attempt is made to explicate Descartes’ political and moral values from his treatise “Epistola ad Voetium” (1643), which has not been translated into Russian. In modern Russian philosophy, this work is considered theological, since Descartes himself admitted that the reason that prompted him to write “Epistola ad Voetium” was a theological dispute with Gisbert Voetius (1589–1676). When interpreting Descartes’ political and moral values, the author takes into account not only the discursive context, but also the historical background. This approach is partly based on the method of the Cambridge School of Intellectual History as a heuristic tool for analyzing the author’s intent. Descartes’ political values become obvious when Descartes exposes Voetius’s false scholarship, destroys his political and moral authority, and specifies the conditions for the formation of a genuine (political) authority for a public figure: a special type of scholarship — eruditio, and special personal characteristics — humility and free will. The paper shows Descartes’ moral values in development (J. Rodis-Lewis’ approach). A comparative analysis of the Cartesian treatises “Epistola ad Voetium” (1643) and “The Passions of the Soul” (1649) allows us to reveal the reasons for Descartes’ replacement of the concept of “magnanimity” in “Epistola ad Voetium” with the concept of “generosity” in “The Passions of the Soul”. The author of the article is convinced that the transition from listing Voetius’s actions to the assertion that personal and social interactions between people are determined by emotions (passions) allows Descartes to discover many dimensions of the philosophical analysis of power.