Descartes’s Provisional Morality

Abstract: Descartes claims in the Discourse on Method (1637) to have devised a morale par provision in 1619–20, but, later, in the Conversation with Burman (1648), he divulged that he “does not like writing on ethics,” asserts that his morale was hastily written immediately before the publication of the Discourse , and, even more striking, adds that he was “compelled” to include this content due to “people like the Schoolmen.” These facts have led commentators to be skeptical whether Descartes created his morale during his early philosophy as he claims in Part 3 of the Discourse . In response, the author argues that he created a “lived morale ” during the early 1620s. Further, he argues that Descartes endorsed it throughout his lifetime and concludes that he advocated it from the Rules for the Direction of the Mind (1620s) to the Passions of the Soul (1648).