Being and enjoyment: from Descartes’ subject of cogito to Sade’s subject of imago

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22240/sent35.02.082

Keywords:

Marquis de Sade, Descartes, enjoyment, pleasure, pain, body, soul

Abstract

The article studies the enlightemently shift in the interpretation of enjoyment, which led to the construction of a particular ethos/nomos enjoyment and transformation in the model of being/thinking. Thus, constituted the transition from the metaphysics of mind, grounded by Descartes, to (meta)physic of body, presented by the Marquis de Sade. This shift or meta/physical gap is carried out at the intersection of two lines: the reason and enjoyment. Given line of reason, the article specifically actualized line of enjoyment, allowing to explore the transformation of the identity of being and thinking which is fundamental to Western philosophy. It sets the place of enjoyment in Cartesian concept of the identity of being and thinking, and the distinction of soul and body. It formulated on this bases the maxim the subject of the cogito: I enjoy it thinking being. Approach of Descartes is opposed by the materialistic definition of enjoyment and pleasure, designed Sade. This conceptualization of the enjoyment enables the transition to (meta)physic of body, which recognizes only bodily/physical being hypertrophicated by the imagination. According to this, it is concluded that the sadian subject imago constitutes maxim: only enjoying of being I am thinking.

Author Biography

Oleh Perepelytsia, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University

Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, professor of the Department of Theoretical and Practical Philosophy

References

Airaksinen, T. (1991). The Philosophy of the Marquis de Sade. London, & New York: Routledge.

Baladier, Ch. et al. (2009). Plaisir. In B. Cassin (Ed.), Vocabulaire européen des philosophies. Dictionnaire des intraduisibles (V. 1, pp. 513-527). [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv: Duh i Litera.

Bataille, G. (1987). L'Érotisme. In G. Bataille, Œuvres completes in XII vol. (Vol. X, pp. 7-270). Paris: Gallimard.

Beavers, A. F. (1989). Desire and Love in Descartes's Late Philosophy. History of Philosophy Quarterly, 6(3), 279-294.

Cherlonneix, J.-L. (1986). La “vérité” du plaisir ou le problème de la biologie platonicienne. Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, 91(3), 311-338.

Clack, B. (2001). Sade: Forgiveness and Truth in a Desacralised Universe. Literature and Theology, 15(3), 262-275. https://doi.org/10.1093/litthe/15.3.262

Deneys, A. (1991). The Political Economy of the Body in the Liaisons dangereuses of Choderlos de Laclos. In L. Hunt (Ed.), Eroticism and the Body Politic. Parallax Revisions of Culture and Society (pp. 41-62). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP.

Descartes, R. (1996). Oeuvres complètes in 11 vol. (Ch. Adam, P. Tannery, Éds.). Paris: Vrin.

Descartes, R. (2014). Meditations on First Philosophy. Metaphysical meditations. [In Ukrainian]. In O. Khoma (Ed.), Descartes’ “Meditations” in the mirror of contemporary interpretation (pp. 115-292). Kyiv: Duh i Litera.

Foucault, M. (1976). A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. [In France]. Paris: Gallimard.

Feyel, J. (2013-2014). Les femmes sadiennes avec Lacan. Itinéraires, 2, 73-84. Retrieved from https://itineraires.revues.org/683

Hénaff, M. (2005). Sade: The Invention of The Libertine Body. [In Russian]. Saint Petersburg: Humanitarian Academy.

Kaufman, D. (2003). Infimus gradus libertatis? Descartes on indifference and divine freedom. Religious Studies, 39(4), 391-406. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034412503006656

Khoma, O. (Ed.). (2014). Descartes’ “Meditations” in the mirror of contemporary interpretation: Jean-Marie Beyssade, Jean-Luc Marion, Kim Sang Ong-Van-Cung. [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv: Duh i Litera.

Lacan, J. (2001). Séminaire 20. Encore: 1972-1973. (Ch. Melman, Éd.). Paris: Association lacanienne internationale.

Marty, E. (2011). Pourquoi le XXe siècle a-t-il pris Sade au sérieux? Paris: Seuil.

Milner, J.-Cl. (2009). The Constats. [In Russian]. Saint Petersburg: Machina.

Onfray, M. (2014). La passion de la méchanceté: Sur un prétendu divin marquis. Paris: Autrement.

Onfray, M. (2016). La Puissance d`exister. Manifeste hédoniste. [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv: Nika-Centr

Perepelytsia, O. (2014). The Mediums of Enlightenment: Obscene Deviation. [In Russian]. Kharkiv: V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. https://doi.org/10.22240/sent34.01.095

Perepelytsia, O. (2016). Porno(u)topia of Marquis de Sade: “Philosophy in the Bedroom” vs “Symposium”. [In Ukrainian]. Sententiae, 34(1), 95-110.

Sade, D. A. F. Marquis de. (1990). Aline et Valcour ou le roman philosophique. In D. A. F. Marquis de Sade, Oeuvres (Vol. I, pp. 385-1109). Paris: Gallimard.

Sade, D. A. Fr. Marquis de. (1995a). Histoire de Juliette. In D. A. F. Marquis de Sade, Oeuvres (Vol. III, pp. 179-1262). Paris: Gallimard.

Sade, D. A. Fr. Marquis de. (1995b). La Philosophie dans le boudoir. In D. A. F. Marquis de Sade, Oeuvres (Vol. III, pp. 3-178). Paris: Gallimard.

Downloads

Abstract views: 603

Published

2016-12-16

How to Cite

Perepelytsia, O. (2016). Being and enjoyment: from Descartes’ subject of cogito to Sade’s subject of imago. Sententiae, 35(2), 82–93. https://doi.org/10.22240/sent35.02.082

Issue

Section

ARTICLES

Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.