Abstract

According to Rene Descartes, in order for people to live well, or as they, on the whole, ought to do, it is necessary that they do not fear death. However, people must not desire or long for it either. In this chapter, the author examines Descartes’s arguments for these two theses. Descartes in fact never wrote a treatise devoted exclusively to ethics. But in his later works, including the Meditations on First Philosophy, The Principles of Philosophy, and The Passions of the Soul, important parts concern various ethical issues. In The Passions of the Soul, Descartes suggests that people's passions generally serve an important function in their lives, namely as sources of motivation for conduct that tends to render themselves more perfect—in particular, for conduct that tends to be beneficial to, or to preserve, the body. The passion of fear is a special case, however.