Descartes: A Biography

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 Descartes: A Biography

Utrecht and that, at least for a short time, he enjoyed the tranquillity

required to devote himself to writing thePrinciples.

This picture of a respite in hostilities emerges from a number of inde-

pendent witnesses. Samuel Sorbiere (` –) wrote from The Hague,

August, about his visit with Descartes ‘five months earlier’. He

described him as a reclusive figure in the castle of Endegeest, pursuing his

studies with the equanimity of a detached scholar.

Descartes lives near Leiden in a comfortable retreat, like another Democritus. He is

taken up with his speculations and he communicates his thoughts and experiences to

no mortal, except to Picot and to a chemist from Leiden, Hogelande. He will publish

his Physics in two years time. Meantime, he maintains a rigorous silence about it, lest

those mysteries be profaned. Hence, during the two hours I spent in his company, I

learned nothing at all about them. I came away, however, admiring him, for he is a rare

individual about whom later generations will speak.

Descartes provides a similar description of himself when writing to

Huygens,September.Heacknowledges that there is a ‘truce’ in

the attacks from his enemies, at least insofar as no one is attacking him

publicly. ‘For that reason, I am philosophizing here very peacefully and in

myusual way, that is, without rushing myself’ (iii.).

The leisurely drafting of thePrincipleswas interrupted dramatically in

December, when Descartes saw the first pages of a book that was

in the process of being printed under the working titleCartesian Philos-

ophy, and which he assumed was being written by Voetius.He wrote

to Mersenne that he would not deign to reply to it if he considered only

his own interest. Altruism, however, required him to respond. According

to Descartes, Voetius was exceeding his authority by governing the city

of Utrecht, which included a number of citizens who were friends of the

French philosopher and who would be happy to see a challenge to Voetius’

authority. For their sake, he would ‘reply on their behalf’ (iii.), and

would publish his reply as soon as the whole book was printed.

In the meantime, since Voetius had asked Mersenne na ̈ıvely to sup-

port his critique of Descartes as theologically heterodox, Descartes took

advantage of that strategic slip to request Mersenne’s assistance. He got

copies of the Voetius letters from Mersenne and kept them safely until he

died, in case he needed to quote them against their author.Secondly, he

asked Mersenne to write to Voetius in defence of Descartes and to share

the contents of that reply with him.