The notion of "Self" in Blaise Pascal and the critique of cartesianism

• Grant number: 23/07019-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2023
• End date: June 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - History of Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Luís César Guimarães Oliva
• Grantee: João Pedro Blanco Milani
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/19880-4 - Power, conflict and freedom: Spinoza and the ways of Modern and Contemporary Political Philosophy about democracy, AP.TEM

Abstract

The present project aims to unfold from the apologetic intentions of the author of the Pensées a fundamental concept to conceive his critique on the founder of the cogito: the notion of "Self". We perceive that this notion involves multiple aspects that are contemplated by the development of modernity and its thought - in this sense, we aim to investigate mainly the conception of method and reason (more specifically, the impotence of reason), wich delineate the emergence of this concept. Indeed, we must analyse how such conceptions are presented in the cartesian philosophical system to identify the points of convergence and divergence of both authors. For that, we will read the Meditations and the Discourse on Method in order to compare both of Descartes's attempts to found his philosophy with the fragmentary set of Pascal's work. This will allow us to do two things: in a more specific way, to construct the concept of "Self" initially mentionated; in a general sense, to elucidate some characteristics of the construction of the modern subject - wich has in Descartes one of its main figures.