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AMY M. SCHMITTER
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
NOTES
See especially AT VI 62, CSM 1 143, and AT IXB 14-15, CSM 1 186. Refer-
ences are to C. Adam and P. Tannery(eds.) (AT), Oeuvresde Descartes (Paris,
France: J. Vrin, 1996); and J. Cottingham,R. Stoothoff, D. Murdoch (CSM)
and A. Kenney (CSMK), The Philosophical Writingsof Descartes, Vols. 1-111
(Cambridge,England:CambridgeUniversityPress, 1984-1987).
2 This may seem to contrast with, e.g., Bernard Williams's description of
Descartesas engagedin a "projectof pureinquiry"(Descartes: the Projectof Pure
Inquiry,N.Y.: Penguin, 1978, p. 66), in which "no values drawnfrom [practical
matters]affect the enquiry"(p. 47). But the disagreementhere is only skin-deep
(see the last paragraphabove).
3 Although Descartes's story about the origin of the passions is through-and-
throughteleological (God equips our natureso in order that we may manoeuver
our way aboutthe world), I preferto describe the passions as "functional."What
determineswhen and where we will feel any particularpassion is the make-up
of our bodies, and that can be explained only mechanically,a fact which in turn
explains how the passions can be dysfunctionalon some occasions. Descartes's
insistence on accounting for the operation of our passions in terms of their
underlyingmechanismis, I take it, an importantstep towardsthe understanding
of biological functions without naturalteleology. For an interestingdiscussion
(which came to my attention too late to consider here), see Alison Simmons,
'Sensible Ends:LatentTeleology in Descartes' Account of Sensation',Journalof
the Historyof Philosophy 39 (2001), 49-75.
4 AT XI 372, CSM I 349. Sensationstoo alertus to differentpropertiesof things.
5 AT X 381, CSM 1 353.
6 ATX383,CSM1354.
7 ATX384,CSM1354.
8 AT X 386, CSM1356.
9 Discovered posthumously,the piece is of uncertaindate.
10 ATX501,CSM11402.
1 ATX501,CSM11403.
12 Such demands are part of Descartes's long-standingquarrelwith Scholastic
logic.
13 AT X 523, CSM 11 417.
108 AMY M. SCHMITTER
14
ATX525,CSMJI418.
15 See Epistemon'sdescriptionat AT X 504, CSM 11404.
16 AT X 505, CSM II 405.
17 This is a spectreraisedby Eudoxusabouthis own scholastic education,AT X
516, CSM II 411.
18 One might imagine cases where false belief answers genuine curiosity. But
Descartescan admitexceptions to the corrigiblereliabilityof satisfaction.And it
seems unlikely that such satisfactioncould be sustainedover the long haul. The
world has a nasty habit of destabilizingfalse opinions.
19 See AT X 434-5, CSM I 378-379.
20 AT VII 52, CSM II 36.
21 I have not hereextendedthe storytofailures of theoreticalreasoning,although
I think it could be.
22 See Sergio Tenenbaum, 'The Judgmentof a Weak Will', Philosophy and
PhenomenologicalResearch49 (1999), 875-91 1.
23 That is the topic of method.
24 See AT III 695, CSMK 228 and AT V 165, CSMK 346.