Descartes: A Biography

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Descartes and Princess Elizabeth 

someone who was almost a total recluse and who had failed to develop

relationships with mature women who were his social equals. This would

explain why Elizabeth insisted, after Descartes’ death, on retrieving the

letters she had written to him for seven years and that he had brought with

him to Stockholm. She may have recognized more clearly than Descartes

the ambiguity of their relationship and how it might appear to a third party

who had an opportunity to read both sides of the correspondence.

Before reaching that conclusion, however, she acted as an intellec-

tual midwife for publication of Descartes’ book on human emotions,The

Passions of the Soul.