Abstract
Abstract Descartes explicitly states that virtue is sufficient for attaining happiness. In this paper I argue that, within the framework he develops, this is not exactly true: more than virtuous action is needed to secure happiness. I begin by analyzing, in Section 2, the Cartesian notion of virtue in order to show the way in which it closely connects to what, for Descartes, forms the very essence of morality – the correct use of our free will. Section 3, in turn, discusses Descartes’s view of happiness and its relation to the highest good. Thereby is laid the foundation for Section 4, which offers a reconstruction of the argument that virtue leads to happiness. Section 5 concludes the discussion by suggesting how and why Descartes leaves a crucial premise – an intellectual insight that consists of three main elements – unmentioned when he claims that virtue is sufficient for happiness.
Highlights
Descartes explicitly states that virtue is sufficient for attaining happiness
The link between virtue and happiness is one of the most traditional topics in Western moral thought.1. In line with his rather conspicuous Stoic tendencies,2 in a letter from 1645 Descartes assures Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia that “virtue is sufficient to make us content in this life” (CSMK, 258; AT IV, 266 f.)
The highest good amounts to acting morally, as what I have called two-component theory states. It is this Descartes has in mind in an important passage to Christina: free will is in itself the noblest thing we can have, since it makes us in a way equal to God and seems to exempt us from being his subjects; and so its correct use is the greatest of all the goods we possess; there is nothing that is more our own or that matters more to us. (CSMK, 326; AT V, 85.)
Summary
The link between virtue and happiness is one of the most traditional topics in Western moral thought. In line with his rather conspicuous Stoic tendencies, in a letter from 1645 Descartes assures Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia that “virtue is sufficient to make us content in this life” (CSMK, 258; AT IV, 266 f.). In this paper, I examine this claim and argue that, within the framework Descartes develops,. The link between virtue and happiness is one of the most traditional topics in Western moral thought.. The link between virtue and happiness is one of the most traditional topics in Western moral thought.1 In line with his rather conspicuous Stoic tendencies, in a letter from 1645 Descartes assures Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia that “virtue is sufficient to make us content in this life” (CSMK, 258; AT IV, 266 f.).. I examine this claim and argue that, within the framework Descartes develops,.
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