Descartes: A Biography

c CUNYB/Clarke     December, :

Thoughts of Retirement 

Descartes’ first impression of Paris was that there was something in the

air that disposed him ‘to conceive of chimeras rather than of philosophical

thoughts’.However, he also noticed so many other people who were

misguided in their views and plans that their lack of direction seemed to

him ‘a universal sickness’ (v.). In an obvious reference to the political

events that he had unexpectedly encountered, Descartes began to talk

about returning to Egmond almost as soon as he arrived in Paris. ‘I very

muchprefer the innocence of the desert that I came from, and I do not

think that I can prevent myself from returning there within a short time’

(v.). He relented on his earlier demands for private accommodations

and accepted hospitality from Picot for the remainder of his visit.

Descartes remained in Paris for about three months. There are few

indications of how he spent his time there. Arnauld sent him a num-

ber of philosophical queries, and, as in the case of his objections to the

Meditations, Descartes welcomed them as informed comments from a

sympathetic critic. Although he offered to meet Arnauld personally, this

proved to be as impossible as it had been on his visit in, because

the Sorbonne theologian was still in hiding because of his Jansenist

sympathies.Arnauld was concerned about a number of issues, including

the manner in which Christ is present in the Eucharist and the nature of

what Descartes had called ‘intellectual memory’.

The query about Christ’s presence in the Eucharist revived discussion

of a problem that had caused considerable difficulty in the objections

and replies to theMeditations. This was a very contentious theological

issue that Descartes would have preferred to avoid, and he had already

established boundaries to prevent himself from straying unwittingly into

theological disputes.Arnauld phrased his question as follows:

Youclaim that an extended thing cannot be distinguished in any way from its local

extension. I would like to know, therefore, if you have thought of any explanation by

which you can reconcile that doctrine with the Catholic faith, which requires us to

believe that Christ’s body is present on the altar [at Mass] without its local extension,

since you have shown successfully how the lack of a distinction between accidents and

their substance is consistent with the same mystery. Otherwise, you can easily see the

danger to which you expose the most sacred reality. (v.)

Descartes replied, cautiously, that even the Council of Trent did not

attempt to explain how Christ is present in the Eucharist and that he

could not be expected to do better than a general council of the church.