Ethics & Moral Philosophy - Theoretical, Descartes & 17th Century French Philosophy, Modern Philosophy - 17th & 18th Century
Available on Bookshop
Write a review
Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Log in to track your reading progress.
Overview
Most Cartesian scholars focus on the metaphysical and epistemological aspects of the philosopher's texts. In this long awaited volume, John Marshall invites us to reconsider René Descartes as an ethicist. Through an unconventional study of his statements about morality found in such writings as the Discourse on the Method, the Passions of the Soul, and various correspondence, Marshall shows how Descartes confirmed and elaborated his earlier "provisional morality" in his later works.Marshall demonstrates that Descartes left a fully developed conception of moral virtue and happiness along with other accounts of values and norms, and he expands on these accounts to describe Cartesian moral theory as a whole. He discusses the morale par provision of the Discourse, treats Descartes's "final morality" by focusing on his account of virtue, and sets out a Cartesian theory of value and system of duties. Throughout the text he uses numerous quotations to illustrate Descartes's comments on ethics, and he considers views of other commentators such as Gueroult.Editorials
From the Publisher
"Rene Descartes is an important but neglected moral philosopher. John Marshall's book is designed 'to introduce Descartes's moral thought to an anglophone audience' and he succeeds."-Ethics. October, 1999."Descartes Moral Theory is clearly written and well structured. Marshall makes his arguments easy to follow and uses illustrative examples. He considers and amply cites the relevant Cartesian texts, and is so fair to the opposing point of view in cases of textual ambiguity that one can mount strong counterarguments simply on the basis of evidence Marshall himself provides in his notes."-- Sarah Donahue, The Review of Metaphysics
Book Details
Published
December 10, 1998
Publisher
Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, 1998.
Pages
192
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780801435676