Abstract
In this chapter the theme of moral uncertainty in the modern world is addressed through a discussion of Descartes’ mind/body dualism. I suggest that such uncertainty may, to some degree, be attributed to a kind of cultural mind/body dualism which makes reasoned moral judgement virtually impossible. I suggest, further, that a more careful reading of Descartes may help overcome such cultural dualism and establish firmer grounds for practical philosophy.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Adam, C. and Tannery, P. [AT] (1897–1910), Oeuvres de Descartes, 12 vols., Paris: Leopold Cerf.
Ariew, R. and Grene, M. (1995), Descartes and his Contemporaries, Meditations, Objections and Replies, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Assiter, A. (1996), Enlightened Women, London: Routledge.
Baker, G. and Morris, K. (1996), Descartes’ Dualism, London and New York: Routledge.
Blair, T. (2004), Speech, in The Guardian, 5 March.
Braidotti, R. (1991), Patterns ofDissonance, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Calder, G. (1998), ‘Liberalism without Universalism’, in Brecher, B., Halliday, J. and Kolinska, K. (eds), Nationalism and Racism in the Liberal Order, Avebury Series in Philosophy, Aldershot: Ashgate.
Cornford, F. M. (1907), Thucydides Mythistoricus, London: Duckworth.
Derrida, J. (1976), Of Grammatology, Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Descartes, R. (1968), Discourse on Method and Other Writings, London: Penguin.
Descartes, R. (1985), The Philosophical Writing ofDescartes, 2 vols., trans. J. Cottingham, R. Stoothhoff and D. Murdoch, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Frankfurt, H. (1971), ‘Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person’, Journal of Philosophy, 68.
Fricker, M. (1991), ‘Reason and Emotion’, Radical Philosophy, no. 57, Spring Issue, Oxford: Blackwell.
Gatens, M. (1996), Imaginary Bodies, Ethics, Power and Corporeality, London and New York: Routledge.
Gilroy, P. (1993), The Black Atlantic, Modernity and Double Consciousness, London: Verso.
Kant, I. (1933), Critique of Pure Reason, trans. Norman Kemp-Smith, London: Macmillan.
Lloyd, G. (1984), The Man of Reason, ‘Male’ and ‘Female’ in Western Philosophy, London: Methuen.
Lyotard, J. F. (1979), The Postmodern Condition, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
O’Neill, O. (1996), Towards Justice and Virtue, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Parekh, B. (2000), Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory, Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Plumwood, V. (1993), Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, London: Routledge.
Rorty, A. (1986), Essays on Descartes’ Meditations, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Rorty, R. (1980), Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, Oxford: Blackwell.
Russell, B. (1946), History of Western Philosophy, London: Allen and Unwin.
Ryle, G. (1949), The Concept ofMind, London: Hutchinson.
Scheman, N. (1993), ‘Though This be Method, yet there is Madness in it’, in Scheman, N. (ed.), Engenderings, Constructions of Knowledge, Authority, and Privilege, London: Routledge.
Sorrell, T. (1994), ‘Descartes’ Modernity’, in J. Cottingham (ed.), Reason, Will and Sensation, Oxford: Blackwell.
Scruton, R. (1984), A Short History ofModern Philosophy, London: Routledge.
Waizer, M. (1977), Just and Unjust Wars, Harmondsworth: Penguin. Young, I. M. (1990), Justice and the Politics of Difference, Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2005 Alison Assiter
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Assiter, A. (2005). Moral Uncertainty, Feminism and Descartes’ Demon. In: Watson, S., Moran, A. (eds) Trust, Risk and Uncertainty. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230506039_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230506039_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-51035-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-50603-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)