Too much Happiness. On the Affections Theory in Descartes and Leibniz

Descartes and Leibniz appear as opposing thinkers in Early Modern philosophy studies. After a period of initial influence, the German thinker would have been a severe critic of the philosophical theses of the French philosopher. However, a careful reading of Leibniz's scattered statements about affects and their moral dimension will enable us to grasp the distance and closeness between the thinking of both authors. For Descartes, happiness is linked to the will, while Leibniz will be more faithful to the Aristotelian intellectualist tradition, although his conception of emotions is, in many ways, amazingly similar.