ABSTRACT
Descartes' philosophical preoccupation was epistemology or theory of knowledge, which he needed to build a New or Modern science to replace the Aristotelian science of the Mediaevals. His writings are almost completely devoid of moral or ethical considerations, and no consistent account of evil is to be found in them. Descartes himself in his Sixth Discourse on the Method emphasizes this point by saying that the goal of his philosophy is to make man 'Master and Proprietor of Nature' for the sake of curing diseases and prolonging human life. Descartes may have personally believed in the Church's teaching on the corruption of the will, and drawing a parallel between sin and error owes much to St. Augustine's theology and may indeed be understood as an expression of his sentiments. In a letter to Villebressieu Descartes says that to acquire knowledge of God and the soul, one needs to 'detach the mind from the senses'.
