Descartes: A Biography

end CUNYB/Clarke     December, :

Notes to Pages– 

.Descartes to Chanut,March(v.), which replies to Chanut’s letter of

February.

.Brasset to Descartes,March(v.–); More to Descartes,December

(v.) andMarch(v.). More wrote two other letters later,

July (v.–) andOctober(v.–). Descartes drafted a reply to

the first in August(v.), at the beginning of which he explained that he

was preparing for his journey to Sweden. However, he did not send any further

replies to More; the draft response was found in his papers after his death. See

Alan Gabbey’s notes on this correspondence in v.–.

.Descartes to Arnauld,July(v.).

.Descartes’ conversation with Burman,April(v.): ‘The same thing can

be said about body and its extension, and about all things. For the author does not

claim to have an adequate knowledge of anything.’

.Descartes to More,April(v.).

.See van Otegem (), i.–. The printing was most like done initially by

Elzevier in Amsterdam, and then published with a new title page by H. le Gras in

Paris.

.Va nOtegem (:I,–) speculates that this correspondent may have been

Henri Maresius (–), who was interested in arranging for publication of

the Latin edition of thePassions(which appeared infrom L. Elzevier at

Amsterdam).

.Baillet (), ii..

.Descartes to Clerserlier,April(v.–).

.It is also possible that this ‘correspondence’ was invented by Descartes as an

appropriate Preface to his book. Without independent evidence concerning the

alleged correspondent, it is impossible to trust it.

.∗∗∗to Descartes,July(v.); Descartes to Clerserlier,April

(v.–).

.Descartes to Freinsheim, June(v.–). Freinsheim’s reply reached The

Hague toward the end of July and was forwarded by Brasset to Egmond. See

Brasset to Madame Chanut,July(v., note). Once that was received,

Descartes felt free to release the text to his editor.

.This is confirmed by Descartes to Carcavi,August(v.): ‘As regards

mytreatise on the passions, it is true that I promised a long time ago to send it to

a friend who planned to arrange for its publication. However, I have not sent it to

him yet.’ This is inconsistent with Descartes’ letter ofAugust(xi.), in

which he apparently agrees to send the manuscript to his correspondent. He may

have given the manuscript directly to Elzevier in Amsterdam before his departure

forSweden onSeptember.

.The definition provided inThe Passions of the Soul(Part I, par.) is: ‘Perceptions

or feelings or emotions of the soul which are referred specifically to the soul

and which are caused, maintained, and strengthened by some movement of the

spirits’ (xi.). The term ‘spirits’ refers, as usual, to a very fine fluid that travels

throughout the tubes that serve as nerves in Cartesian physiology.