c CUNYB/Clarke December, :
Metaphysics in a Hornet’s Nest (–)
to that discussion remained hidden inThe World(iii.). Since he was
awaiting a detailed reply from the Jesuits, which he did not expect for
another ‘four or five months’, he had to accept that the projected trip
to France would not occur before the end of.Inpreparation, he
planned to read a little of ‘their philosophy, something I have not done
fortwenty years’, and he asked Mersenne for suggestions about scholastic
authors who were then popular. Apart from the Coimbra commentators,
and Toletus and Rubius – whom he vaguely remembered from his school
days – he thought there was some ‘Carthusian or Benedictine’ who had
recently written a summary of scholastic philosophy, although he could
not remember his name.The author in question, Eustace of St. Paul,
had written a popular four-part summary of philosophy that had been
published in numerous editions in Paris, most recently in.Thiswas
the first mention by Descartes of Eustace of St. Paul, and the first time
that he gave serious thought to what eventually became hisPrinciples of
Philosophy– all in response to anticipated objections from the Jesuits.
Descartes eventually sent his draftMetaphysicsto Huygens and asked
him to forward it to Mersenne onNovember.Apart from the
somewhat grandiose plan for the future, the immediate literary aim was
to publish theMetaphysics.Since Descartes had sent the manuscript to
Mersenne without any title, he now suggested as a titleThe Meditations of
Ren ́e Descartes on First Philosophy. This seemed appropriate, he thought,
because he did not discuss God and the soul in detail, but ‘in a general
manner, all the first things that can be known when one philosophizes’
(iii.).
Although more than eleven years had passed since Descartes had writ-
ten to Father Gibieuf about a ‘little treatise’, he contacted him again
(November)tosaythat he had drafted a ‘writing on metaphysics’
and that Mersenne would supply him with a copy.He asked Gibieuf to
advise Mersenne about how best to get the protection of the Sorbonne,
because the project on which he had embarked was to defend ‘God’s cause’
(iii.). Descartes’ detailed plan was outlined to Mersenne, to whom he
wrote twice on the same day. He asked him to have the text of theMedi-
tationsprinted, to copy by hand his letter of dedication to the Sorbonne,
and to present the theology faculty with both together (providing as many
copies of the printed draft as they needed so that it could be examined
simultaneously by all their theologians). The theology faculty might wish
to establish an expert group to examine his writing, and, if they had any