Abstract

In the Olympica, the lost manuscript wherein Descartes described his famous three dreams, he wrote that on the night of Saint Martin in 1619 he felt asleep in a state of enthusiasm. He interpreted the dreams that ensued as the divine revelation of the principles of a new and admirable science. I here propose that the Olympica were a literary fiction devised by Descartes to legitimize his arrival on the philosophical scene by proposing the principles of a new science. The function of dreams as the best way to reach true wisdom is in line with a long philosophical tradition. This paper offers an attempt to understand the Cartesian enthusiasm in its context, that is, before the criticism of enthusiasm as something incompatible with reason became widespread and when it was still linked to the Platonic theory of furor – poetic and divine – the state that allows the subject access to the truth.

中文翻译：

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笛卡尔科学起源中的热情和柏拉图狂热：奥林匹亚梦

摘要

在《奥林匹克》中，笛卡尔描述了他著名的三个梦想的手稿，他写道，1619年圣马丁之夜，他热情洋溢地睡着了。他将梦想解释为对新的令人钦佩的科学原理的神圣启示。我在这里提出，奥林匹克运动会是笛卡尔（Descartes）设计的文学小说，旨在通过提出新科学原理来使他进入哲学舞台合法化。梦想是实现真正智慧的最佳途径，其功能与悠久的哲学传统是一致的。本文试图理解笛卡尔的热情在它的上下文中，也就是说，在对热情的批评与理性不相容之前，这种热情被广泛传播，当它仍然与柏拉图式的狂热理论（诗性和神圣的）联系在一起时，这种状态允许主体接触真理。