Descartes: A Biography

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 Descartes: A Biography

the university city.Given that he was also thinking about visiting France

at the end of July, Descartes was obviously unsettled. He had lived in Sant-

poort, moved to Leiden, had thought seriously about visiting England and

France, and had considered changing residence again to Amersfoort, all

within the space of three months. In fact, he remained in Leiden until

March, when he moved to the castle of Endegeest. However, as long

as he lived in Leiden and still planned to visit France during the summer

of, Descartes decided to defer printing his draft metaphysics until

immediately before departing. In that way, he would reduce the chances

of allowing any copies to fall into the wrong hands.

This plan was apparently abandoned sometime between July and

September, when Descartes was involved in controversy with the

French Jesuits. He had left Leiden suddenly, for two weeks, at the end of

August, probably because of the death of his daughter, Francine. On his

return on September,hestill had on his desk two letters about the Jesuit

controversy that he had written onAugust and had not dispatched by

messenger. At that stage, his plan was still to travel to France, perhaps

within about six weeks (i.e., toward the end of October).By the end of

the month, however, Descartes had rethought his strategy for publishing

theMeditations.Evenifinitially he printed only twenty or thirty copies

atLeiden, he could not guarantee to limit their distribution only to those

to whom he sent them. In fact, even the printer might make extra copies

and distribute them without permission as he wished. Rather than publish

in Leiden, therefore, it was decided to send the manuscript to Mersenne

in Paris and to ask him to consult with Father Gibieuf and a number

of theologians of his choice.Descartes hoped that they would examine

and approve his treatise, and he decided that he would then dedicate it

(if Mersenne thought it was a good idea) to the Sorbonne theologians. ‘I

will tell you that Bourdin’s caviling has made me resolve to arm myself in

advance as much as possible with the authority of others, because the truth

onits own is not appreciated very much’ (iii.). Given his exaggerated

estimate of how important the dedication would be for the success of the

book, Descartes even asked Mersenne how he should address a letter of

dedication to the Sorbonne (iii.).

Descartes seems to have recognized how close he was sailing to theolog-

ical disputes, even though the official plan was merely to discuss various

metaphysical claims that could be known by reason, independent of reve-

lation. He alluded to the Galileo affair, and to the fact that his contribution