The question of the subject of sentiments in Descartes' dualism

2014

The goal of this thesis is to address the question of what would be the subject of the predicates that denote sentiments in Descartes’ writings. The proposed hypothesis is that substances can only be regarded as « the ultimate subjects of inherence » of these predicates. Nevertheless, it will be argued that men and animals, although they are not substances, may be considered the « subjects of attribution » of such predicates, since they have a specific unit, namely, a « unity of composition », which ensures that attribution. Therefore, the thesis will be developed in three main axes. From an examination of the Cartesian theory of substance and its definitions, we analyze the concept of exte…