Descartes: A Biography

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 Descartes: A Biography

There is a paragraph in Descartes’ early writings in which he seems to

criticize the millenarian and somewhat mystical ambitions of the Rosicru-

cians, when he writes:

The mathematical thesaurus of Polybius, the cosmopolitan, in which are provided the

true means of solving all difficult problems in that science and which demonstrates

that human intelligence can discover nothing further about those questions. This work

is directed towards certain people who promise to show us miraculous novelties, to

challenge their sluggishness or to expose their temerity...This work is offered anew

to learned men throughout the world, and especially to the distinguished brothers of

the Rose Cross in Germany. (x.)

Descartes had been suspected, on his return to Paris, of having met mem-

bers of the Rose Cross fraternity and perhaps even of having joined their

secret fellowship. He replied to such queries, according to Baillet, by show-

ing himself visibly to everyone, especially to his friends.Todemonstrate

that he was not a member of the ‘invisibles,’ he needed no proof except to

appear very visibly in public. He used a variation of the same argument to

demonstrate that he could not possibly have met or joined the fraternity

while travelling in Germany, since, according to their own testimony, its

members were invisible.

Apart from the fact that it would have been impossible to do so, there

is no evidence to suggest that Descartes was ever interested in joining the

Rose Cross brotherhood. However, in, when he was engaged in a

bitter controversy with theologians at Utrecht, Martin Schoock exploited

the vague suspicion about Descartes’ passing interest in the Rosicrucians to

focus attention on his penchant for hiding in the wilderness and changing

address frequently.Having first raised his possible membership of the

Rosicrucians with readers, Schoock rejects the suggestion that Descartes

had actually joined the fraternity, even if the reason offered for the negative

verdict is less than complimentary: Descartes was so ambitious that he

wished to have his name trumpeted to the four corners of the world,

whereas the Rose Cross brothers preferred to remain modestly invisible.

Schoock suggested, as an alternative explanation, that Descartes’ seclusion

and frequent changes of address were more likely due to immoral behaviour

or to misanthropy.

However, if the Brothers of the Rose Cross were both alluring and invis-

ible, the fate of Tommaso Campanella in prison in Naples was sufficiently

real to catch the attention of anyone who supported novel and allegedly