Descartes: A Biography

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Descartes and Princess Elizabeth 

(such as Mersenne and Huygens), or whether they were rejected as infe-

rior scholars who exaggerated their intellectual accomplishments, such

as almost all those who responded to the Cartesian invitation to submit

corrections to his work (including Beaugrand, Fermat, Hobbes, and many

more). Maria van Schurman fell into this latter category, while Elizabeth

of Bohemia is most accurately described as an intellectual patron.

Anna Maria van Schurman

VanSchurman’s parents had moved from Antwerp to Cologne during

the Spanish occupation of the city, and she was born there into a strict

Calvinist family in. She moved later to Utrecht () and subse-

quently to Franeker (–), where her brothers were attending univer-

sity. However, with her father’s death in, the young woman returned

to Utrecht, where she lived with her mother and aunts for many years.

During this period she became well known for her work as a miniaturist

artist and even more famous for her learning and knowledge of languages.

She attended theology lectures given by Voetius at the university, while

hiding behind a curtain, since women were not allowed to register officially

foruniversity studies. It is clear from the theological writings of Voetius

that Van Schurman must have listened to a strictly orthodox account of

Calvinism. He inveighed against the kind of probabilism that he associated

with Jesuit moral theology, demanding that moral queries be answered

with ‘categorical and absolute’ rules.Not surprisingly, when he illus-

trated his morality with examples, his discussion lapsed into an extended

complaint about the social customs of the time. He reproached those who

‘lend money for usury, or drink as much as others at parties...or wear

their hair long and curled, or dress up like whores...byadorning, or

deforming, not only the top of their head but also their face and arms’.

It is a tribute to Van Schurman’s independence of mind that, despite the

oppressive influence of Voetius, she wrote an articulate tract in support of

women’s education, which was published in the same year as Descartes’

Meditations.VanSchurman’sDissertation on the Aptitude of Women’s

Intelligence for Learning and Advanced Studiesis a systematic attempt to

answer the question raised at the very beginning of the book: ‘are studies

in the humanities necessary or appropriate for a Christian woman?’She

argues that such studies are both necessary and appropriate, and she is

very inclusive about the range of studies involved.