A brief investigation on the fulfillment of the Cartesian generous desire: the habit in the passions of love, hate, joy and sadness

Abstract

This internship at the University of Paris 1 - Panthéon-Sorbonne is an important step in our master's research project, entitled The concept of habit in Descartes's The Passions of the Soul (FAPESP 2020/03010-0), in which we study the implications of the Cartesian habit concept. In this sense, The Passions of the Soul seems to be central, as it presents how the body, something determined, joins the soul, which is free, without both losing their specificities. On the other hand, the aim of the project at the University of Paris 1 - Panthéon-Sorbonne, A brief investigation into the fulfillment of the Cartesian generous desire: the habit in the passions of love, hate, joy and sadness, is to study the relationship between the concept of habit and the concepts of love, hate, joy and sadness in The Passions of the Soul, in order to deepen the questions of the master's research project in Brazil. This becomes necessary to the extent that habit can be used by the generous person to regulate his desire, as habit allows the soul to reorder its passions according to the precepts of reason, as the master's research has tried to demonstrate so far. As this desire is not empty or abstract, it is necessary to know what are the passions involved in the generous person's desire. In short, the internship abroad project addresses this issue and seeks to show how generosity can lead to the construction of new habits by modulating the desire involved in other passions. Thus, from this project it becomes possible to study decisive points of the master's research in Brazil, such as the practical relationship between the technique of habit and the virtue/passion of generosity, as well as the inner emotions of the soul operating in the primitive passions listed in the Treaty of the Passions. Therefore, the internship project abroad is a very important step towards the development of master's research in Brazil. (AU)