Cartesian Freedom and its Moral Implications- A Talk by Ariane Schneck, Assistant Professor, University of Bielefeld, Germany

Descartes‘s conception of freedom has been the subject of a long-standing scholarly debate. Does being free, for Descartes, mean being able to do otherwise? Many interpreters think so, and there are passages in Descartes‘s writings that seem to support a so-called “libertarian“ conception of freedom. However, there are also passages in which he clearly states the opposite. In my talk, I will first present a reading of Cartesian freedom that aims at reconciling Descartes‘s apparently inconsistent statements on the topic. In the second part of my talk, I will discuss some implications of this understanding of Cartesian freedom for Descartes‘s moral philosophy.

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