Descartes: A Biography

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 Descartes: A Biography

Why the condemnation of these two books? The most likely reason is

that Descartes’ metaphysics was open to the kind of interpretation that had

been developed by Regius. In that sense, the Roman censors joined forces

with Descartes’ Calvinist critics and concluded that, despite his vociferous

protests, he was potentially an atheist in disguise, that he weakened rather

than strengthened the church’s teaching about the immortality of the

human soul, and that his discussion of matter cast doubt on the Eucharistic

theology that was taught by the Council of Trent.

A Cartesian Sect

Within a short time of his death, those who supported Cartesian philoso-

phy assumed a sufficiently distinct identity that they came to be described,

especially by their critics, as a ‘sect’. Claude Clerselier was a central figure

in the normalization of Cartesian philosophy and its integration into the

intellectual life of Parisian salons. One of his first tasks was to arrange for

publication of material that had come to light in Stockholm and Leiden

after Descartes’ death. Clerselier collected as many letters as possible writ-

ten to and by Descartes, and he published them in three large volumes in

Paris in,, and.Since this edition was intended for French

readers, one might have assumed that letters originally written in Latin

would have been translated into French. This was done, somewhat freely,

bythe editor, although only in the second and third volumes. The other

important new book to emerge, during these years, was part of the treatise

onhuman nature,l’Homme, and the surviving sections ofThe World,both

of which were published in Paris in.Aphysician from Saumur in

the Loire valley, Louis de la Forge, helped edit the material on the human

body and provided some of the illustrations that have accompanied the

text ever since.

With the publication of new work and the frequent republication of

earlier texts by Descartes, the scene was set for a burgeoning interest in

Cartesian philosophy. Many of those who contributed to this development

were sufficiently independent that they came to be recognized as distinct

voices in the confluence of ideas that invigorated the second half of the

seventeenth century. For example, Spinoza and Malebranche could hardly

be described simply as Cartesians, as if they merely repeated or reworked

ideas that had already been suggested by Descartes. Many others also

contributed to the consolidation of a distinctively Cartesian approach to