Descartes: A Biography

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 Descartes: A Biography

()He had been pressured into saying that he was the author of the contro-

versial book, whereas in fact he was responsible only for the order of the

sections and chapters.

Descartes was reluctant to conclude this controversy without getting some

apology or formal acknowledgment of innocence of the various charges

levelled against him. He was willing to accept a reconciliation with Schoock

because, he claimed, ‘there is nothing in life that is sweeter than peace’. In

fact, he would not even ‘reject the friendship of Voetius if I believed that he

offered it in good faith’.In this frame of mind, he sent the Utrecht mag-

istrates a number of documents in, including the letters from Voetius

to Mersenne that invited the Minim to testify against Descartes’ ortho-

doxy, and the results of the Groningen inquiry.However, theVroedschap

was reluctant to become involved in further controversy and deferred

making any decision by requesting its secretary to prepare a translation of

the Latin request.

Descartes’ final effort to get satisfaction from Utrecht, theApologetic

Letter to the Magistrates of Utrecht, was drafted probably in the spring of

and sent to the magistrates in February.The word ‘apologetic’

was evidently used in the sense of ‘vindicatory’ or ‘self-defensive’. The

immediate cause of drafting a fresh appeal to Utrecht was a lawsuit taken

by Voetius against his former collaborator, Schoock, whose testimony at

Groningen had publicly exposed the extent to which Voetius had inspired

The Admirable Method.Itwas also motivated by the final rift with Regius

(to be discussed in Chapter) and the new controversy with theologians

atLeiden (discussed in Chapter). As a last straw, Voetius published an

amended version of his disputations in the first volume of hisTheological

Disputationsin, and reopened old wounds by addressing accusatory

questions to Descartes about his alleged atheism.

Descartes’ letter identifies some of the charges that evidently contin-

ued to rankle despite the passing of time. He had been accused of being

a disciple of the Jesuits, of attacking the great defender of the Reformed

religion, G. Voetius, in order to win their favour, and of being sent by

the Jesuits to the United Provinces to stir up trouble there (viii-.

[French],[Latin]). He repeats his charge that Voetius must have

been the real author ofThe Admirable Method, since Schoock disavows

its content while Voetius continues to defend it (viii-.–[French

only]).