ABSTRACT
The rational Stoicism of Descartes had understood desires as perturbations animi, resulting from the mind's seemingly unfortunate union with the body. As such, rationalist philosophers thought that the passions could never disturb the pure rational autonomy of the soul. However, the Enlightenment recognized the passions as empirical realities that were not to be so simply willed away. Diderot appealed to the recently discovered, supposedly natural, sexual promiscuity of the Tahitians to support his claim that 'it is not man, but Christianity that is guilty of bringing sin, sin against nature, into the world'. Sexuality was understood within the paradigms of the Enlightenment's conception of reason. Desires generally were recognized, but only with the greatest caution. Voltaire referred to the passions as 'the principal cause of the order we see today in the world', but he also recognized them as a nonetheless dangerous gift.
