c CUNYB/Clarke December, :
Descartes: A Biographywhat to do with his life. He showed little warmth or affection for his father,
who had more or less abandoned him as a child. Although he had other
family connections in the legal profession and could have pursued that
career without moving to Brittany, he seems not to have been attracted
bythat option either. It is likely that he was moderately content with his
education but aware of its limitations, and that he considered travelling
abroad a way of getting experience of alternative possibilities. He had some
intimation of the scientific developments that were being reported from
Italy, Denmark, the United Provinces, and from central Europe, and he
decided to visit at least some of those places to learn at first-hand what he
had heard about only indirectly at school.