Descartes: A Biography

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The Quarrel and Final Rift with Regius 

philosophy more diplomatically. Because he had failed to do so, Descartes

now felt that he should distance himself from his friend in the Preface to a

book that was about to appear. Implausibly, he told Charlet that, if he had

followed his own inclinations, he would never have published anything.

He likewise warned Princess Elizabeth about ‘the book by Regius that has

eventually been published’, and he used it to illustrate a general point, that

if ideas are used by people who do not understand them properly they are

converted from truths to errors.

The letter to Father Charlet provides another insight into the reasons

why Descartes was so unhappy with Regius’ book. His efforts to win

the favour of the Jesuits in, immediately after publication of the

Principles, seem to have had no success. Descartes heard from Mersenne

that two Jesuits had published philosophy books, Father Etienne No ̈el

(rector of the Jesuit college in Paris) and Father HonoreF ́ abri, and he was

anxious to see both books and, if necessary, to reply to them.No ̈el’s book

mentioned Descartes by name, although he had not yet received the copy

that Mersenne had sent, whereas Fabri had published a compendium of

philosophy that was apparently more widely received among the Jesuits

than thePrinciples. Descartes was very anxious, therefore, ‘to discover

the terms in which members of the Society speak about my writings’

(iv.). There were also signs here of his earlier paranoia, that all the

Jesuits collectively supported the views of one of their members. Given the

time he had wasted in disputes with Roberval, he reflected that ‘I would

prefer to spend my time examining Father Fabri’s book and defending

myself against the whole Society [of Jesus] than against Roberval on his

own’ (iv.).

In fact, Father No ̈el wrote to Descartes onSeptember, and

sent him copies of his two new books.Descartes had already received

a copy of one of them,The Sun as a Flame, three weeks earlier when he

had visited Huygens in The Hague, and he was gratified to find that No ̈el

was at least willing to discuss novel views that differed from traditional

scholastic theories.The copies sent by Noel must not have arrived with ̈

his letter, and he therefore had not yet had an opportunity to read the

other book,Physical Aphorisms, which was evidently a compendium of

scholastic physics. Descartes had read enough of Noel’s book to see that ̈

his own work had been cited on page five, and that ‘the Fathers of your

Society are not so attached to ancient views that they do not also dare to

propose novel opinions’ (iv.). Having mentioned Father Charlet and