Métaphysique et physique de la causalité chez Descartes
This dissertation aims to examine the treatment of physical causality in the scientific and metaphysical works of the philosopher René Descartes. At first, the in-depth study of his scientific works have revealed the abundant and seemingly trivial use of the notion of causality. We then contrasted this preliminary reading with the metaphysical theory of continued creation in order to establish clearly the problematic nature of causality within the Cartesian frame of reference. A closer examination of divine creation of the material world led us to posit the discontinuity inherent to time. Furthermore, the different formulations of continued creation opened the possibility for the laws of nature to be considered as causal agents in the Discourse on the Method, as well as bodies themselves from the scientific treaty The World; the texts of the Meditations and the Principles only leading towards a strict occasionalist reading. Within the last chapter of this dissertation, we demonstrate that the concept of force in bodies, similar to that of causality, is used extensively without being thoroughly defined. With the help of an article from the Principles, we were able to qualify force as a secondary attribute in Cartesian ontology. However, based on our readings, this qualification is not sufficient to consider force to be a causal factor behind the bodies.
René Descartes Force Philosophy Causality Physics Metaphysics Continued creation Laws of nature Body