Abstract

In this paper the author introduces two questions for discussion in Descartes, namely: 1. How to understand the “liberty of indifference” in the thought of Descartes; 2. How to understand the conception of the indivisibility of the soul (or spirit). The first one is a classical topic, already studied, among others, by Martial Guéroult and Lívio Teixeira. It concerns the moral conception of Descartes and the related question about the existence of a “permanent moral” in the thought of Descartes, compared to his “provisory moral”. The second question has more contemporary ramifications, since it is about the relation between body and spirit, or mind, which is central in the philosophical reflections of the XXIst Century. The paper doesn’t try to solve these questions, of course, but intends to point some lines of research taking these issues as starting points. This paper also constitutes a tribute to Professor Franklin Leopoldo e Silva (USP).