Abstract

The aim of this article is to compare different phenomenological readings of Descartes’ theory of knowledge, by showing how each reading serves the purpose to answer a certain number of philosophical worries at work in the contemporary debate. The first part of the article puts forward a tension between on the one hand Jean-Luc Marion’s identification of a “crepuscular world” in the Cartesian conception of science, and on the other hand Emmanuel Levinas’ depiction of a “luminous world” in De l’existence à l’existant. Whereas the former epitomizes the metaphysical grip of an egological will to power, the latter puts forward, to a certain extent, the freedom to break off from Being. However, these two models agree on a fundamental point, which is the egological and carceral nature of the world of objectivity. Moreover, these two interpretations do not allow to address the Cartesian idea according to which God has given us a “good nature” (“bonne nature”), as reflected from the “natural light” but also the passions. Thus, this article proposes a phenomenological reading of Descartes that pays its full tribute to this idea of a “good nature”. Such a reading will have to take into account Descartes’ humanist sensitivity all the while respecting the contemporary issues that stem from phenomenology. This other model that we propose aims at thinking anew the metaphysics of objectivity on the basis of notions and perspectives that do not merely refer back to the solitude of the ego, but rather to the humanist framework of civility, while bringing to the human value of knowledge a new foundation.