Descartes: A Biography

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The Quarrel and Final Rift with Regius 

he had little hope of receiving the financial support necessary to complete

the project. With such an apology, he could hope only to offer humanity

the incomplete results of his labours on their behalf.

The public repudiation of Regius came in the penultimate paragraph of

the new Preface. Descartes acknowledged that he had written previously

that his high esteem for the intelligence of Regius was such that he could

accept any of Regius’ views as his own.That situation had now changed

completely.

Last year he published a book entitledPhysical Foundationsin which, although he

seemed not to include anything concerning physics and medicine that he had not got

from my writings – those that I published, and another one concerning the nature of

animals that was still incomplete and which fell into his hands – nevertheless, because

he transcribed the material inaccurately and changed its order, and denied certain

metaphysical truths by which the whole of physics should be supported, I am forced

to disavow the book completely. I must ask readers never to attribute any view to me

unless they find it explicitly in my writings; nor should they accept any of them as true –

either in my writings or in those of others – unless they see very clearly that they are

derived from true principles. (ix-.–)

The French edition of thePrincipleswas to be published by Pierre Des-

Hayes in Paris, in spring. Descartes wrote the prefatory letter to Picot

while visiting him in Paris, with the title: ‘Letter by the Author to the trans-

lator of the book’.By May,ithad been published as:The Principles

of Philosophy, Written in Latin by Ren ́e Descartes, and Translated into French

byone of his Friends, and a copy had been sent to Princess Elizabeth.The

die was now cast for the final public disagreement between Descartes and

his former proteg ́e, when Regius published a list of theses in the form of ́

a short booklet or manifesto.

An Explanation of the Human Mind

Regius planned to respond to Descartes’ criticisms by adding corollaries to

a medical disputation scheduled forOctober.When the university

senate suppressed these extra theses, on the advice of the rector, Regius

and his respondent, Petrus Wassenaer, decided to publish their contro-

versial comments on Cartesian metaphysics as a manifesto, under the title

An Explanation of the Human Mind. This provided a list of contentious

claims about human nature that differed significantly from the Cartesian

account, some of which had already appeared in thePhysical Foundations.