Elizabeth of Bohemia, Princess Corresponding with Descartes

Elizabeth of Bohemia and the Palatinate She was a remarkable woman of her time, like a character in an epic novel. He even shares names with some characters and geographic regions. game of Thrones: Born in a time of political turmoil, her father, Palatinate Frederick V, was deposed after the Battle of White Mountain and her family was forced into exile in the Netherlands. The incident earned his father the nickname “The Winter King,” as he could only rule for one season.

Despite unfavorable circumstances, Elizabeth continued to develop intellectually, becoming a respected philosopher, mathematician, theologian, and statesman. Not in vain, Demonstrate exceptional learning talent. He is proficient in six languages, including Latin and Greek, and has shown extraordinary strength in mathematics. She was nicknamed Greek in her family because of her intimate knowledge of classical subjects.even very likely Constantine HuygensOne of the leading classical poets of the Dutch Golden Age and one of his teachers.

knowledge communication network

Isabel eventually became a central figure in the literary republic of her day, the intellectual communication network that would provide the foundation for the development of modern science.And, although he will only meet famous French philosophers René Descartes On several occasions, he corresponded extensively and substantially with him, exchanging a total of 58 letters that survive to this day.

This correspondence began in 1643 and continued until Descartes’ unexpected death in 1650, when he contracted pneumonia as a result of his work as the queen’s governess and had to get up early and walk through a cold castle. Christina from Sweden (Another iconoclastic monarch who shocked Europe in the 17th century, became an icon of the LGBT community centuries later due to her gender ambiguity and penchant for men’s clothing).

The correspondence between Isabelle and Descartes is a window into their times and their respective thoughts and anxieties. Full of politeness, humor and intimacy, it’s also full of deep philosophical debate. Moreover, Isabelle’s liberated mind even led her to question some core tenets of Descartes’ thought, especially his famous dualism of separating mind from body. In their correspondence, he also went on to explore many other inconsistencies in his philosophy, while he often became defensive, trying to explain and justify his ideas.

Still, judging by the way they signed their letters, their relationship remained cordial, almost romantic. He is “the obedient and eager servant of His Highness” and she is “the very friend who serves you”. This not only reflects the obedience and mutual respect between them, but also an awareness of class differences, as Isabel belongs to a much higher social class than Descartes.

The problem with dualism

Elizabeth asked Descartes how the soul, as a thinking substance, could influence the body to produce voluntary actions. Descartes pointed out in his answer that the mind is analogous to a force acting at a distance, such as gravity.

However, Isabelle finds this explanation unsatisfactory because, according to her theory of dualism, the mind is immaterial and therefore unable to interact with matter. Therefore, he argues, if the mind is an undiscovered physical force, then the Cartesian explanation makes sense. However, since in his theory of dualism the mind is intentionally immaterial (immaterial), he could not imagine how it could interact with the material (matter).

Isabel goes on to argue that she understands that the senses tell her the soul to move the body, but that the senses give her no answers, nor does the intellect and imagination, as to how it works. Still, as always, Elizabeth ends on a respectful note, reminding Descartes that his clarifications and advice are the most precious possessions he holds dear, and that he could not have lived up to his reputation in a more accommodating manner.

Despite the princess’s diplomacy, Descartes has apparently been dodging some thorny issues that his sharp intellectual stimulation has overlooked (unless new missing letters turn up in some dusty archive, where the philosopher finally settles them ).

as the British philosopher explained AC grayling exist age of witElizabeth was intrigued by Descartes’ binary digressions partly in relation to the possible effects of emotions on health, as she wrote on May 24, 1645: “My body suffers from the many infirmities of my body.” He is susceptible to soul problems and lacks the ability to self-recover when the soul heals (…). It didn’t take long for grief to clog my spleen and infect the rest of my body with its vapors. I think this is the source of my fever and sore throat … ».

In addition to the debate, however, there was a confession of personal life and even the solution of a math problem at the same time. Descartes explained the problem to her in a letter, and the princess and he set about solving it simultaneously. They both come to the same conclusion, but Descartes admits that Isabel’s proof is more elegant (which is objectively true, since the proof contains fewer terms).

Descartes even dedicated his book Philosophical principlesacknowledging the sharpness of his mind: “The greatest reward I have received from my published works is your kindness in reading them, which has given me access to your circle of acquaintances, which has enabled me to acquire so much It will be a service to humanity to come down as an example for future generations.”

two bookworm epistolary

Fragments of these letters also suggest an emotionally close relationship between Descartes and Isabelle, beyond philosophical or friendly correspondence. As a result, some historians speculate that there may have been a romantic relationship between them, although there is no conclusive evidence.

For example, neuroscientists have proposed the Eric Holler in his book The World Behind the World: Consciousness, Free Will, and the Limits of Science, He describes the relationship as that of two lovers of science immersed in the Renaissance, exchanging information and meeting only a few times, perhaps in the shadow of intense passion.

because it is possible, After Descartes died, Elizabeth was heartbroken.. Although he lived to be 72 years old, he never married. In fact, he even turned down a prince’s marriage proposal (at least in part for religious reasons). However, as a single woman, she lived a fulfilling life, promoting philosophical and scientific ideas that were new at the time.

Finally, in 1667, she entered a Protestant abbey in Herford, Westphalia, where she became abbot for a time, wisely ruling over 7,000 people until 1680.Until the day of her death, the monastery still It became a refuge for anyone fleeing religious persecution.

After forging a mesmerizing correspondence relationship with Descartes, The Princess is perhaps the first to explicitly affirm the contradictory nature of mind-body problems. Consciousness seems irreducible to matter, but we also know that, as Isabel was the first to point out, the two cannot be completely separated, because then they would never be able to interact. never quite separate. Like philosophers and princesses.