- 著者
-
井原 健一郎
- 出版者
- 日本倫理学会
- 雑誌
- 倫理学年報 (ISSN:24344699)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.70, pp.89-103, 2021 (Released:2021-06-14)
Descartes’s letter of February 9, 1645, presumably addressed to Mesland
(“Mesland Letter”),is considered vital because it seems to provide an explanation
of freedom that differs from that found in the Meditations. On this basis,
some scholars insist that Descartes changed his view of freedom after the Meditations.
Did Descartes change his view? Admittedly, it seems that another kind of indifference
was introduced in this letter. In the Meditations, indifference was described
as the state in which the will is placed when no evident reason inclines it
to do anything. Conversely, in the Mesland letter, Descartes introduced another
indifference that can be defined as the positive faculty of the will to determine
itself. This new version of indifference seems to be the basis of a new concept of
freedom. In the Meditations, it is said that when evident reasons entirely incline
us to do something, we cannot but do it; for example, we cannot but give assent
to something when we perceive it clearly and distinctly. The novel formulation
of indifference in the Mesland letter, however, implies that in a given situation
we can do nothing or do the opposite; for example, even when we perceive something
clearly and distinctly, we can withhold assent to it or suppose it to be
false.
Did Descartes thus change his view of freedom? It seems questionable. First,
indifference appears in the Meditations too as a positive faculty of the will, although
it may not be called “indifference.” Moreover, this work also admits that
we have the ability to withhold assent to what we perceive clearly and distinctly
or to suppose it to be false. Surely, according to the Meditations, it is possible to
do so not at the exact moment when evident reasons incline us, but only after
we distract ourselves from them. A strict consideration shows, however, that
the same thing is said in the Mesland letter.
From the above, it cannot be demonstrated from the Mesland letter alone that
Descartes changed his view of freedom.