Descartes: A Biography

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 Descartes: A Biography

and he expressed his frustration in letters to others, Descartes treated

Mersenne throughout his life as an indispensable source of scientific

information and as a mediator with the wider world of European learn-

ing. Mersenne kept him informed about scientific developments in Italy

and France; he helped arrange for publication of theMeditationsin Paris

(with a rather unsatisfactory outcome); and he frequently provided copies

of new books that he thought were relevant to Descartes’ work. This

explains the frequency of letters exchanged between the two men. Of

course, Descartes was not the only one who corresponded in this way

with Mersenne, whose extraordinary correspondence extended to many

others who shared his encyclopedic interests in theology, music, and all

the physical sciences. The Minim’s penchant for letter writing was such

that it prompted Huygens (no mean correspondent himself) to comment

that he ‘filled the air of the universe with his letters’.Besides writing to

Mersenne frequently, Descartes also displayed the respectful deference

that was customary toward clerics in the seventeenth century, as he did

even toward the Jesuits whom he was criticizing. Despite the frequency of

their correspondence, however, and their mutual dependence, one would

hardly have described Mersenne as a friend of Descartes. He was more

like a Catholic apologist who was anxious to enlist Descartes’ assistance

in his religious propaganda, while Descartes, for his part, was happy to

exploit Mersenne’s co-operation while trying to become recognized as a

successful philosopher.

Within the United Provinces, Constantijn Huygens was more a patron

of the exiled Frenchman than a friend. Descartes took advantage of

Huygens’ office as secretary to theStadtholderto send letters and draft

manuscripts to and from France with the added security and lack of

expense of diplomatic messengers. Huygens viewed himself as a general

patron of the arts and sciences in the United Provinces, and his solicitude

in relation to Descartes reflected the widely acknowledged expectations

of the French philosopher’s potential contribution to the sciences. Just as

Mersenne had many other correspondents apart from Descartes, Huygens

had many other artists and men of letters – mostly Dutch – whom he

patronized. Descartes, for his part, was appropriately deferential toward

such a central figure in the administration of the emerging Dutch republic.

In the case of the few women who figured in any way in Descartes’

life, therefore, one has to ask whether they were friends (as were Van

Hogelande and Reneri), whether they were useful contacts or patrons