Descartes: A Biography

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The French Liar’s Monkey and the Utrecht Crisis 

Descartes’Letter to Voetius

Descartes had been aware for some time of the imminent publication of

The Admirable Method, since he had seen the first few pages of the text,

presumably through some contact with the printer, in December.By

March,hehad the full text of the book, and he began writing his

reply in April. He concluded hisLetter to the distinguished gentleman, Mr.

Gisbertus Voetius, in which two books recently published at the same time for

Voetius of Utrecht are examined: one concerning the Marian Confraternity, the

other concerning Cartesian Philosophy,toward the end of May.He

arranged to have it published both in Latin and in a Dutch translation.

Descartes opens his reply toThe Admirable Method, which he claims was

written with the active collaboration of Voetius by one of his supporters,

with a spirited defence of freedom of thought. This type of argument is

familiar in the version later presented by John Stuart Mill in the nineteenth

century. Mill constructed a lengthy argument, inOn Liberty(), to

support the fullest possible freedom of expression. Part of the argument

was that, if certain views happen to be false and are expressed publicly,

their publication will cause no harm (except in special cases). However,

if they happen to be true and are still suppressed, the whole of humanity

suffers the harm of being denied access to the truth.Descartes offers a

similar defence of freedom to publish philosophical views:

Philosophizing has always been so free and so many have erred before us without

causing harm to anyone that, if I am mistaken like them, one should not fear that the

human race will be harmed as a result. However, if I happen to discover the truth, one

could expect great benefits. That is how it happens that those who love the truth, in

the tenuous and doubtful hope of finding truth in my writings, invite me to publish

them. (viii-.)

Descartes also proposes, as he had done in previous disputes, a completely

favourable description of his own role in the controversy. He describes

himself as living in relative obscurity in the country, as avoiding as much

as possible the company of others, and as having tried his best to avoid

cultivating disciples.Besides, as he repeats a number of times – in an

obvious reference to thePrinciples, which were almost complete – he has

not yet published his philosophy; he has merely made available some sam-

ples that might help readers to determine if they were interested in seeing

his whole system.Not only does he live in the country and withhold pub-

lication of his philosophy, but he is also naturally a peace-loving person!