Papers by Hanna Vandenbussche
The Stoic sage was a target favored by many seventeenth-century thinkers and moralists. René Desc... more The Stoic sage was a target favored by many seventeenth-century thinkers and moralists. René Descartes and Blaise Pascal are no exception to this rule; according to them, the Stoic sage is an ‘insensible’ (Descartes) or ‘presumptuous’ (Pascal) persona that induces an anthropologically insufficient and morally dangerous vision of the human being. This essay is concerned with introducing Descartes’ and Pascal’s respective critiques of the Stoic sage into their philosophical views of the passions and the will. Pascal and Descartes express different critiques of the persona of the Stoic sage. Descartes mainly criticizes the idea that the sage must radically dissociate the virtues and the passions. For Descartes, morality involves the passion of generosity which helps to streamline productively the other passions, and does seek to destroying them. Pascal shares the Stoic’s hostility towards the passions and so must criticize their highest ideal from a different perspective. For him, the Stoic notion that human beings can approach divinity is among the most egregious of beliefs, an expression of the vice of vanity (orgueil).
Article publié dans le livre "La sagesse de l'amour chez Pascal", dirigé par Hélène Michon et Tam... more Article publié dans le livre "La sagesse de l'amour chez Pascal", dirigé par Hélène Michon et Tamás Pavlovits.
Most seventeenth-century moralists and philosophers, such as Pascal and Malebranche, commonly des... more Most seventeenth-century moralists and philosophers, such as Pascal and Malebranche, commonly describe the passions and the imagination as symptoms of the corruption of human nature. Descartes is not an easy fit in this general framework, especially since most studies of his account of the passions read him rather univocally as committed only to a scientific investigation of certain phenomena that properly belong to the soul but do originate in bodily movements. In this paper, it will be argued that Descartes’ account of the passions is more complex. Namely, by suggesting, on the one hand, that the passions are all good in themselves and, on the other hand, that the passion of generosity is the highest human virtue, Descartes seems at a remarkable distance from many of his contemporaries. Yet, Descartes equally warns against the potentially dangerous effects of the passions, particularly when the passions and the faculty of imagination collaborate closely. The representation of the object of a passion is often illegitimately and excessively esteemed by the imagination. This inclines the human soul to assume the images represented by a passion as real and then willingly attributes a disproportionate significance to these. As such, the human soul is necessarily at the mercy of error and deception. This nuanced appreciation of the passions will be illustrated in reference to the passions of vanity (‘orgueil’), joy (‘joie’) and love (‘amour’), which are the three fundamental passions that determine the relationship of the soul to itself and the external world. If the representations of these passions are exposed to the influence of the imagination, they potentially turn into the source of all human errors and immorality. Descartes also emphasizes, however, the positive use of the passions which is enabled by retaining the possibility of free will. What is more, the use of free will can even turn the most dangerous passions into virtues if the (imaginary) representation of their objects does not seduce the soul to (self-)deception.
Le sentiment de notre existence dépend pour une bonne part du regard que les autres portons sur n... more Le sentiment de notre existence dépend pour une bonne part du regard que les autres portons sur nous : aussi peut-on qualifier de non humaine l'expérience de qui a vécu des jours où l'homme a été un objet aux yeux de l'homme1. Dans son récit Si c'est un homme, où Primo Levi raconte ses expériences au sein du camp de concentration à Auschwitz (« Arbeidslager »), le thème de 'l'anéantissement de l'homme' se présente comme un fil conducteur. En effet, le milieu hostile du camp de travail ne fait que de menacer l'humanité de ses habitants: toute distinction d'ordre morale ou sociale semble y être disparue. Le plus grand nombre des habitants du camp font preuve d'une indifférence radicale : ils se sont résignés à leur existence de bêtes ou d'automates à laquelle les Allemands les ont destinés. Or, certains personnages du livre refusent de consentir à leur condition et maintiennent leur humanité malgré le caractère inhumain de l'univers dans lequel ils se trouvent. Leur attitude se distingue par un désir de maintenir leur humanité.
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Papers by Hanna Vandenbussche