Descartes: A Biography

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The ScientificEssaysand theDiscourse on Method 

This initial discussion gave rise to a lengthy, frequent, personal corre-

spondence between Descartes and Huygens that was not interrupted even

bythe most pressing official demands on Huygens’ time, including his

frequent absences on manoeuvres with the army.

This began, however, after Descartes’ next move in,onthis occa-

sion to Utrecht. Before moving, Descartes must have turned at least some

of his attention to the pregnant servant of his local host.

Descartes’ Daughter, Francine

One of the servants in the Sergeant home, Helena Jansdr vander Strom,

became pregnant by Descartes onOctober.Ababy girl was born in

Deventer onJulyand was baptized into the Reformed Church on

July in the same town.The birth certificate lists the father’s name as

Reyner Jochems – which is a Dutch version of ‘Rene, son of Joachim’ – and ́

the child’s name is given as Fransintge. The circumstances of Francine’s

birth, baptism, and subsequent short life are camouflaged by her father’s

dissimulations and by the accommodations to social expectations that

her mother was forced to accept. Claude Saumaise claimed inthat

knowledge of the liaison originated with Descartes’ valet, who ‘complained

about having to go to town too often on account of the infant and her

mother.’

Descartes’ biographer, Baillet, addressed this issue rather delicately in

the late seventeenth century. ‘Mr. Descartes’ marriage is, for us, one of the

most secret mysteries of the hidden life that he led in exile from his native

country, far from his relatives and friends.’Baillet claimed that a life of

celibacy was most appropriate for a philosopher, but that it would have

been very difficult for anyone to remain strictly celibate while engaged in

the most ‘inquisitive investigations in anatomy’. On the other hand, he

concedes that if Descartes did marry Helena, it was done so secretly that

the most subtle and perceptive canon lawyers could not have distinguished

it from concubinage.These speculations inadvertently raise the obvious

question about whether Descartes was even attracted to women. ‘Mr.

Descartes did not find anything in himself,it seems, which could have

constituted an obstacle to his liberty to marry.’When Baillet made that

remark, he may not have been thinking of Descartes’ sexual orientation,

butheseems to concede the point made by some critics, such as Voetius,

who later raised public questions about the French philosopher’s alleged