Abstract

In his treatise on the passion, Descartes developed a moral based on a specific understanding of the freedom of the will. This freedom of the will should even be counted among the first things and most common notions that are innate in us. What is the relation between this free will and the passions? And what role does this will play in what Descartes called the 'morale provisoire'? This article tries to provide an account of those features of the cartesian morals that his concept of the free will was meant to encompass, and consequently to explain the central role and meaning of the cartesian approach of the concept of generosity.