A comparative study on ethics in Descartes and Aristotle

Aristotle and Descartes have been known as two permanent philosophers belonging respectively to ancient Greek and modern times. Their views on ethics have been studied comparatively in this paper. In his “discourse de la method”, Descartes has argued against the scholars of ethics, particularly against Aristotle, in detail. Knowing their ethics as a kind of exaggeration, figment of the imagination and a descriptive field, he claims that in their ethics, one can never find a way to ascend the highest point in morality. Descartes himself, however, promises that he will show the straight way for reaching the highest morality and found an applicable and prescriptive ethics in his system.In this paper it has been made clear that neither Descartes` claims against scholastic scholars have proven true nor his promise has been performed. In spite a great and fundamental utilizing Aristotelian ethico-metaphysical teachings, one can say that Descartes has not gone in justice toward Aristotle.