Descartes: A Biography

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 Descartes: A Biography

skill, however, Ferrier preferred to work for the king, in Paris, rather

than live with Descartes in an isolated town in the north of Friesland. He

even asked Descartes to use his influence to help him to obtain a royal

appointment. Descartes had told Ferrier previously that he should talk to

Father Condren, a member of the Oratory who lived in Paris, and that

he might be able to assist him at the court. But when Berulle died while ́

saying Mass onOctober,Father Condren was appointed Supe-

rior General of the order in his place and thus became unavailable as a

potential intercessor. Accordingly, when Descartes wrote onOctober, he

suggested that two other priests of the Oratory might be able to assist his

friend, either Father Guillaume Gibieuf or Father de Sancy.

Apart from counselling Ferrier about how best to exploit his time and

talents, Descartes described in some detail a machine for grinding lenses

that he had previously discussed with him before leaving Paris. With the

onset of winter and little prospect of success with Ferrier, Descartes left for

Amsterdam toward the end of October, although he wrote to Ferrier again

onNovemberwith detailed replies to queries about the proposed

machine for grinding lenses. Descartes concludes his correspondence with

the hope that, if the machine works, ‘I would dare hope that we would

see...if there are any animals on the moon’ (i.).

Amsterdam (): Inventing a New World

Descartes was working on two other projects – one in metaphysics, the

other in optics – during the first few months in Franeker, both of which

eventually appear as significant parts of his published work. He began

the treatise on metaphysics and, after jotting some notes over a period of

about nine months, apparently left it aside until.This excursion into

metaphysics is first mentioned, in passing, in a letter to Father Gibieuf

(July):

I plan to bother you when I have completed a little treatise that I am beginning. I would

not have told you anything about it until it was completed if I had not feared that the

length of time involved would make you forget your promise to correct it and to put

the finishing touches to it. For I do not expect to complete it for another two or three

years, and I may then decide to burn it or, at least, it will not be allowed to escape

from my hands and those of my friends without being carefully examined. For if I am

not skilled enough to do something well, I shall at least try to be wise enough not to

publicize my imperfections. (i.)