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Cartesianism and Political Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

James V. Schall
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Extract

Political theory never stands by itself. Any theoretical explanation of politics depends on attitudes and positions which stem from metaphysics, theology, ethics, or science. An understanding of the political thought of a man, then, will require some insight into the relationship between his politics and the presuppositions on which it is based. To write about the political theory of Descartes, however, presents special difficulties, for Descartes cannot be considered an important political thinker in his own right. His actual references to politics are scant. His influence on later thinkers did not arise from his thought about politics. Nevertheless, in political theory Descartes must be considered, for it was Descartes who set the patterns of speculative thought after him, including thought about politics. After Descartes the scientific and mechanical orientations of thought replaced the traditional Christian and Aristotelian molds in which politics had been considered.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , April 1962 , pp. 260 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1962

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References

1 Laberthonnière, P., Oeuvres de Laberthonnière: T. II, Études sur Descartes (Paris, 1935), 102–116Google Scholar.

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3 Cf. Gouhier, Henri, “Le nouvel Humanisme selon. Descartes et la Politique,” in Christianesimo è Ragion di Stato, ed. Castelli, Enrico (Roma, 1952), pp. 82 ffGoogle Scholar.

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10 February 22, 1649, DL, p. 191. Cf. also the following similar examples: October, 1648, DL, p. 190; June or July, 1648, DL, p. 187; January 15, 1650, DL, p. 191.

11 December 27, 1647, DL, p. 182.

12 May 5, 1631, DL, p. 19. Descartes says in another letter that in the state we should rule by experience and not by reason since men do not act as they should. Cf. “Descartes à Élisabeth, Mai, 1646,” Oeuvres Descartes. Publiées par Charles Adam and Paul Tannery (Paris, 1901), IV, 412Google Scholar. (Hereafter this work will be cited as AT.)

13 AT, IV, 486. For an extended discussion of this letter, cf. Mesnard, Pierre, “Excursus, la Morale et la Politique: Le prétendu Machiavelisme de Descartes,” Essai sur la Morale de Descartes (Paris, 1936), pp. 190–212Google Scholar.

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35 Burtt, E. A., The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science (Garden City, 1954), pp. 18–19Google Scholar. Cf. also McTighe, Thomas P., “The Meaning of the Couple, Complicatio-Explicatio in the Philosophy of Nicholas of Cusa,” Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association (1958), pp. 206–14Google Scholar.

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37 Ibid., p. 29.

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47 Ibid.

48 The most instructive studies of this relationship are the following:

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3) Brochard, V., “Descartes stoïcien,” Études de Philosophie ancienne et de Philosophie moderne (Paris, 1954), pp. 320–26Google Scholar.

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50 Descartes, , Le Monde, AT, XI, 4–10Google Scholar. Cf. also Meditation I, The Philosophical Works, I, 145.

51 Descartes, , Le Monde, AT, XI, 31 ffGoogle Scholar.

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59 Ibid., Pt. I, arts, iv–xxi, 332–41.

60 Ibid., Pt. I, art. xxxii, 346. Cf. also ibid., Pt. I, arts., xxxiv–1, 347–56; Pt. III, arts., ccxi–ccxii, 425–27.

61 This general elimination of any real givenness in Descartes, I realize, seems to go counter to such significant passages as the Sixth Meditation in which he attempts to demonstrate the existence of bodies — which demonstration apparently demands some existential givenness. Yet, it seems to me the key passages in the Sixth Meditation are the following which parallel Le Monde: “For there is no doubt that God possesses the power to produce everything that I am capable of perceiving with distinctness, and I have never deemed that anything was impossible for Him, unless I found a contradiction in attempting to conceive it clearly.” (Philosophical Works, I, 185Google Scholar.) “ … I know that all things which I apprehend clearly and distinctly can be created by God as I apprehend them …” (Ibid., 190).

Now logically, it might seem that the power of God is broader than the conceptions of Descartes. But in practice, as our discussion of liberty in Descartes implies, everything that appears to be given is ultimately reduced to a God whose powers and actions are controlled by Descartes' mind. I am inclined to think that the so-called “rationalism” of Descartes which would seem to argue to a real givenness always finds its objects reduced to a theory of divine liberty which empties any real stability or solidity in a given object. Finally, what God freely creates somehow turns out to be what Descartes freely imagines or thinks. In other words, I find it difficult to see any specific instance where a “given” is really and radically independent of Descartes himself.

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66 Cf. Boutroux, Emile, “Du Rapport de la Morale à la Science dans la Philosophic de Descartes,” Revue de Metaphysique et de Morale, IV (1896), 505Google Scholar.

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70 del Noce, , op. cit., 8–9Google Scholar.

71 Descartes, René, Discourse on Method, The Philosophical Works, Pt. II, I, 94Google Scholar.

72 Ibid., Pt. II, 89. Cf. also ibid., 81.

73 Ibid., 89.

74 Ibid., 90.

75 For discussions of provisional morality, cf. dimming, Robert, “Descartes' Provisional Morality,” The Review of Metaphysics, IX (1955), 207–35Google Scholar; Mesnard, , op. cit., pp. 215–30Google Scholar; Gouhier, Henri, La Pensée religieuse de Descartes (Paris, 1924), pp. 148–51Google Scholar; Comaresco, Petru, “The Social and Ethical Conceptions of Descartes,” Ethics, LII (1942), 493–503CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

76 Descartes, , Discourse, Pt. VI, p 119. Italics addedGoogle Scholar.

77 May 27, 1630, DL, p. 13.

78 September 30, 1640, DL, p. 66.

79 April 15, 1630, DL, p. 12.

80 Descartes, , Meditation IV, The Philosophical Works, I, 171–79Google Scholar; Objections, ibid., II, 248–49.

81 Cf. Wolff, Edgar, “Conscience et Liberté chez Descartes et chez M. Sartre,” Revue philosophique de la France et de I'Etranger, CXLV (1955), 343–48Google Scholar.

82 Descartes, , Objections, “Reply to Objection VI,” The Philosophical Works, II, 248Google Scholar.

83 Ibid.

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85 Cf. Philippe, M-D, “Réflexions sur la Nature et I'Importance de la Liberté dans la Philosophie de Descartes,” Revue thomiste, LX (1952), 596Google Scholar.

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87 For a brilliant discussion of this whole issue in political theory, cf. McCoy, Charles N. R., “Ludwig Feuerbach and the Formation of the Marxian Revolutionary Idea,” Laval théologique et philosophique, VII (1951), 218–48CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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89 del Noce, , op. cit., 13Google Scholar.