Du récit autobiographique à la méthode de l’ordre du savant, jusqu’à la métaphysique de l’Ego et à la morale de la générosité du philosophe Déclinaisons du « Je/Moi » et de l’Ego chez Descartes

Abstract

This article investigates the distinctive character of Descartes’ work which, generally written in the first person, unfolds between personal singularity and philosophical universality, between individuality and exemplarité. The exemplary dimension of the biographical Je/Moi does not lie in the monumentalization of the philosopher, but rather in the philosophical singularity of the work itself, which transcends the individuality of the author and acquires a specific theoretical significance. The analysis follows the variations of the Je/Moi/Ego in Descartes’ writings, tracing a philosophical itinerary from the determinate Je/Moi of the historical figure to the general Je/Moi/Ego of the author and the philosopher. This itinerary includes the theorist of method and truth according to the epistemology of the Regulæ and the Discours, the scientist who constructs order in the practice of the sciences in the Essais, and the philosopher who reflects on the foundation of truth in the form of a metaphysical Ego in the Meditationes. It culminates in the Je/Moi/Ego of the person, understood as the unity of soul and body, where the philosophy of the subject questions the founding solitude of Ego sum and, by opening itself to otherness, reaches the ultimate form of an ethics of generosity and charity.

English Title: From Autobiographical Narrative to the Method of the Scholar, to the Metaphysics of the Ego and the Philosopher's Moral Generosity: Variations on the ‘Je/Moi’ and the Ego in Descartes

Keywords: Descartes, Je/Moi/Ego, Metaphysical Ego, Philosophy of the Subject and the Person, Unity of Soul and Body, Generosity and Charity