Descartes: A Biography

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 Descartes: A Biography

verseuntil he was close to his death’ and ‘it might be a bad omen’ if he

were to follow his example.The following winter was particularly cold,

which caused him to defer until spring trips he wished to make earlier.

By June,headmitted to Chanut that hisPrinciplesdid not address

directly the questions about morality that his diplomatic correspondent

wished to raise. However, he assured him that thePrinciplesprovided

foundations for a morality that were so secure that he could talk about the

problems raised there with more confidence than he could about medicine,

onwhich he had laboured much longer. ‘Thus, instead of finding ways

to conserve life, I have found another, much simpler and more certain,

way which is not to fear death’ (iv.–). This new focus on how to live

and how to prepare for death featured in another letter to an obviously

receptive Chanut in November, when Descartes quoted Seneca with

approval: ‘A painful death awaits him / Who, known too well to all, /

Dies unknown to himself.’This growing awareness of advancing age

was matched by a confirmation of Descartes’ unwillingness to read books

byother authors, to respond to criticism, or, in general, to engage with the

wider world in the way he had notoriously done throughout his writing

career.

Baillet provides an insightful description of Descartes in northern

Holland, although, as usual, he anticipates the obvious interpretation of

the facts and makes sure to reject it. The agreed facts are as follows.

Descartes slept late each day. ‘He spent a lot of time in bed and he used to

sleep a lot in every season and everywhere he lived....Heoften used to

remain ten or sometimes twelve hours in bed.’His lengthy sleeps were

complemented by a ‘taciturn’ wakefulness, which Baillet attributes to his

dedication to meditation.In his correspondence with others, Descartes

was reported as ‘always slow to write....hiscustomary neglect caused

him always to defer writing until the messenger was about to depart.’

Consistent with his own reports, Descartes read very few books, and thus,

after his death, ‘the few books found during the inventory’ confirmed the

nonreading habits of his later years.These would seem to an impartial

observer today to be signs of clinical depression. However, lest anyone

draw this conclusion, Baillet tried to assure readers that ‘one could not

even say that melancholy had any influence on his extraordinary resolu-

tion’ to hide in the solitary conditions of Egmond-Binnen.When read

carefully, of course, Baillet was denying only that Descartes was depressed

before he arrived in Egmond, and that his state of mind prior to going there

explained his decision to live in isolation. However, even when read in that