Descartes: A Biography

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The Quarrel and Final Rift with Regius 

very primitive understanding of nerves as long thin tubes through which

a subtle material, called spirits, moves very quickly. The way in which it

moves is determined by brain states, and the results of its movement are

the great variety of bodily motions that are controlled by the muscles. The

key to the complex puzzle is a primitive link between certain fundamen-

tal thoughts and the corresponding motions of animal spirits, a link that

was established by nature soon after our birth. This allows Descartes to

write as he does here without compromising his theory of mind, that such

thoughts are formed in the brain rather than in the mind. Once in place,

he has the elements of a solution to the problem of mind-body interaction

that had been raised by Princess Elizabeth in.

The Rift with Regius

Since Descartes had told Regius what he thought about the draft version of

hisPhysical Foundationsand Regius had published it despite those strong

reservations, it was merely a matter of time before Descartes publicly

dissociated himself from the book and its author. While waiting for this

opportunity, when the French edition of thePrinciplesappeared, Descartes

told as many correspondents as possible about his assessment of Regius and

about the way in which, he claimed, their friendship had been exploited.

The frequency with which he mentions this issue gives some indication

of how deeply it affected his trust and, perhaps, his confidence in finding

anyone in the United Provinces on whom he could he rely to support his

philosophical ideas without compromising their integrity.

He gave Mersenne a rather disingenuous account of earlier discussions

with Regius when he wrote to him in September. Mersenne had

heard indirectly, from an unreliable source, that someone called Jonsson

(who had been a chaplain to Princess Elizabeth’s mother) was about to

publish a book based on Cartesian principles. Descartes was quick to

correct him.

It is Regius, the professor at Utrecht, on whose behalf I had such quarrels with Voetius,

who now has such a book in press, as far as I know. It should be published soon, although

Idonot know what it will include and I tried my best to persuade him not to publish it.

I did this, not for my own sake, but for his, because I understand that his metaphysics

is unorthodox and there are many enemies in that city who would be very happy to

find a pretext for harming him.