What's Done Is Done

Essays in Philosophy

Volume 14 Issue 2 Cartesian Virtue and Freedom 7-27-2013 Article 2

What's Done, is Done: Descartes on Resoluteness and Regret

Kimberly Blessing

Buffalo State College

Follow this and additional works at: http://commons.pacificu.edu/eip Recommended Citation

Blessing, Kimberly (2013) "What's Done, is Done: Descartes on Resoluteness and Regret," Essays in Philosophy: Vol. 14: Iss. 2, Article 2. http://dx.doi.org/10.7710/1526-0569.1469

Essays in Philosophy is a biannual journal published by Pacific University Library | ISSN 1526-0569 | http://commons.pacificu.edu/eip/

What's Done, is Done: Descartes on Resoluteness and Regret

Abstract

In René Descartes’ correspondence with Elizabeth (mainly 1645‑1647) as well as his Passions of the Soul (1649), Descartes says that regret is appropriate only when agents act irresolutely, regardless of whether or not their actions bring about good states-of-affairs. In this paper I set out to explain what Descartes views as a novel account of virtue: that being virtuous amounts to being resolute. I show how this account of virtue fits into Descartes’ larger world-view, and then examine his belief that a person should not regret resolute misdeeds.

This essay is available in Essays in Philosophy: http://commons.pacificu.edu/eip/vol14/iss2/2

Essays Philos (2013) 14:141-161

1526-0569 | commons.pacificu.edu/eip

What’s Done, is Done: Descartes On Resoluteness and Regret

Kimberly Blessing

Published online: 27 July 2013 © Kimberly Blessing 2013

Abstract

In René Descartes’ correspondence with Elizabeth (mainly 1645-1647) as well as his Passions of the Soul (1649), Descartes says that regret is appropriate only when agents act irresolutely, regardless of whether or not their actions bring about good states-of-affairs. In this paper I set out to explain what Descartes views as a novel account of virtue: that being virtuous amounts to being resolute. I show how this account of virtue fits...