Ethical Handbook

To the Reader.

...various proofs, I would have even accumulated those that are less effective. Therefore, I have selected mostly those which possess a certain warmth within them and a stimulus toward Virtue original: Virtutem; in this context, it refers to moral excellence and the strength of character.. Certainly, those things possess this warmth most of all which we draw from the innermost and living sense and experience of our own mind, rather than those which we fashion after the example of external writers through some outward art and imitation. Very few such things occur here, except for those Cartesian ideas regarding the Passions original: Passionibus; in 17th-century philosophy, "passions" were the emotions or internal movements—such as desire, joy, or sadness—that the soul experiences or "suffers" (from the Latin passio)., * which I define and categorize almost constantly according to the mind of Descartes René Descartes (1596–1650), a foundational figure in modern philosophy whose work on the "Passions of the Soul" deeply influenced ethics and psychology.. For the rest, that part of Ethics original: Ethicæ; the study of moral principles. is purely speculative, so that no harm can come from this to our highest goal.

Although I had truly determined to describe here my own feelings and the innermost emanations of my mind as much as possible, nevertheless, so that they might not lack either ornament or authority, I have very frequently employed not only the words but also the opinions of the Ancients original: Veterum; referring to the classical Greek and Roman philosophers whose authority was essential for validating new scholarly work. as a richer testimony to the matter. I have done this so that it might be more clearly established that, in this freedom of writing, I have not stepped beyond the bounds, nor have I so much innovated anything in Moral Philosophy as [I have illustrated] that pure