Descartes: A Biography

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Descartes and Princess Elizabeth 

Ana ̈ıve account of prayer suggests that God hears the prayers in which we

make various requests and then answers some of them by granting what

is requested. This seems to make God’s will depend on human actions,

whereas Descartes is evidently claiming the opposite. He returns to this

question in reply to Elizabeth’s concern about God’s special Providence.

‘I do not think that you mean [by special Providence] some change that

occurs in God on the occasion of actions that depend on our free will’

(iv.). Descartes argues, in a manner that would be acceptable also to

Calvinists, that we do not pray to God to inform Him of our needs (since

He already knows them), nor to attempt to change anything in God (which

would be impossible). God’s eternally unchanging will and omniscience

are not affected by anything that we do. Thus, unless we classify this issue

among the mysteries that we do not understand, we have to say some-

thing about God’s anticipating our needs and our prayers and granting

the reliefs sought independently of the fact that we request them.

Apart from such theologically sensitive truths, Descartes was willing to

concede that moral decisions are not usually based on certain knowledge.

On various occasions he returned to the same theme, that we have to make

moral decisions about matters that remain uncertain. ‘Although we cannot

have certain demonstrations of everything, we should still make a decision

and endorse the opinions that seem most probable to us about practical

issues, so that, when we have to act, we will never be irresolute’ (iv.).

Wehave to be satisfied with what he called a ‘mediocre knowledge’ of

the more necessary goods from among which we must choose.‘Leaving

aside what we are taught by the faith, I confess that by natural reason

alone we can make many conjectures which are to our advantage and we

can have great hopes, but no certainty.’

The Passions of the Soul

Elizabeth was twenty-two years younger than Descartes. Despite the

sharpness of her intellect and her intuitive knack for finding the weakest

points in his arguments, her letters give the impression of someone who

needed good practical advice in addition to philosophical tutoring. She

continued to experience various medical complaints, and she was scandal-

ized inwhen her brother, Edward, converted to Catholicism when he

married a French Catholic.On this occasion, Descartes could not hide

the fact that, as a Catholic, he approved of the change of religious allegiance