Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T03:04:54.388Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Infimus gradus libertatis? Descartes on indifference and divine freedom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 October 2003

DAN KAUFMAN
DAN KAUFMAN
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Florida, 330 Griffin-Floyd Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Descartes held the doctrine that the eternal truths are freely created by God. He seems to have thought that a proper understanding of God's freedom entails such a doctrine concerning the eternal truths. In this paper, I examine Descartes' account of divine freedom. I argue that Descartes' statements about indifference, namely that indifference is the lowest grade of freedom and that indifference is the essence of God's freedom are not incompatible. I also show how Descartes arrived at his doctrine of the creation of the eternal truths by consideration of the nature of God's freedom.

Type
Research Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , December 2003 , pp. 391 - 406
Copyright
© 2003 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

In this paper, I employ the following abbreviations:AT: Descartes, René Oeuvres de Descartes, C. Adam and P. Tannery (eds) (Paris: J. Vrin, 1996) (cited by volume and page number).CSM: Descartes, René The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, vols 1 and 2, J. Cottingham, R. Stoothoff, D. Murdoch (transl.) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985) (cited by volume and page number).CSMK: Descartes, René The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, vol. 3, J. Cottingham, R. Stoothoff, D. Murdoch, A. Kenny (transl.) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991) (cited by page number).