Descartes: A Biography

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 Descartes: A Biography

the French philosopher was less willing to accept religious beliefs if they

were not supported by rational arguments. For example, when he wrote

to Huygens to express his sympathy on the death of his older brother,

Maurits, he consoled him with the thought that we would meet our rela-

tives again in the afterlife and that we would remember each other from

this life. However, he added the revealing comment: ‘Although religion

teaches us many things about this subject, I must acknowledge a weakness

in myself which seems to me to be common to most people, namely, that

although we wish to believe and even think we believe very strongly every-

thing that religion teaches us, we are usually moved by religion when we

have very evident natural reasons that convince us.’

In his response to Van Schurman, the conflict in personalities, in reli-

gious affiliations, and more fundamentally in their assessments of the role

of reason in religious belief meant that Descartes found it impossible to

befriend one of the most genuinely talented, intelligent, and independent

women that he ever had the opportunity to meet during his life.

Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia

Elizabeth had been living in exile sincein The Hague, where she was

privately educated. She remained there by agreement with the House of

Orange until. There had been rumours about an arranged betrothal

with the king of Poland since she was fifteen years old. However, Elizabeth

was a committed Calvinist, while Ladislaus IV was a Roman Catholic, and

she seems to have been as reluctant about the plan as he was unenthusiastic

about its implementation. Elizabeth’s first languages were French and

English, although she also read Latin and Dutch. Thus when Descartes’

Meditationswere published in Amsterdam in,itwas almost inevitable

that Elizabeth got a copy and began to read it.

Descartes was still in the castle at Endegeest, in October, when

Pollot advised him that Elizabeth was reading hisMeditationsand that she

was interested in discussing the book with him. He replied enthusiasti-

cally that he would value her opinion much more than that of university

professors, who adopt as their criterion of truth the opinions of Aristotle

rather than the evidence of reason.He added, to Pollot: ‘I shall not fail

to go to The Hague, as soon as I know that you are there, so that, with your

introduction, I may have the honour of offering her my respects and hear-

ing her commands’ (iii.). This indirect introduction initiated one of