QuaestionesInfinitae PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY UTRECHT UNIVERSITY VOLUME XXXVII Zeno, The Leiden-Utrecht Research Institute of Philosophy Heidelberglaan 8 3584 CS Utrecht The Netherlands c J.J.F.M. Bos All rights reserved ISBN 90-393-2975-3 (ISSN 0927-3395) Cover design: Het Bona-team The Correspondence between Descartes and Henricus Regius De briefwisseling tussen Descartes en Henricus Regius (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, Prof. Dr. W.H. Gispen, ingevolge het besluit van het College voor Promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op maandag 4 maart 2002 des middags te 16.15 uur door Jan Jacobus Frederik Maria Bos geboren op 10 februari 1969, te Boxtel Promotor: Prof. Dr. Th. Verbeek Faculty of Philosophy Utrecht University The research for this thesis was made possible by a grant of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). (Several misprints have been corrected in this electronic version. June 2002, EJB.) Ter herinnering aan mijn vader. Voor mijn moeder. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I thank the staff of the Library of the Reformed Transtibiscan Church District and the Reformed College (Debrecen), the National Library of Medicine (Maryland), and Utrecht University Library. My thanks are also due to Thomas Gariepy for kindly sending me a microfilm of Regius’ Physiologia. I am much indebted to Jan de Grauw for his willingness to correct what I believed to be proper English. It goes without saying that the responsibility for the errors that remain are mine. I should also like to express my gratitude to Prof. C. Heesakkers and the participants in the Neo-Latin Seminar (under the aegis of the Huizinga Institute) for patiently listening to and correcting my translation of Descartes’ letters to Regius. Special thanks are due to my dear friend Jeroen van de Ven, who carefully read my manuscript and made several valuable suggestions. I enjoyed our many and extensive talks on science, life and the absurd, which I hope we will continue for some time. Writing a dissertation can be a lonely task, but I was fortunate to have my research imbedded in the project Towards a New Edition of Descartes at the Utrecht Faculty of Philosophy, which provided a pleasant and stimulating environment. During my research I profited greatly from the database of Descartes’ correspondence developed at the Department of the History of Philosophy, and I thank the students who assisted in creating and maintaining this database over the last five years: Hans Diepenveen, Hanneke Wit, Roeland Roelofs and Maarten van Houte. I would like to express my gratitude to my fellow participants in the project, Matthijs van Otegem and Corinna Vermeulen. During our discussions at the weekly seminar on Descartes’ correspon- dence I greatly benefited from their insight and expertise. The initiator and director of the project, Prof. Theo Verbeek, has been a continuous source of inspiration, whose encouragement and criticism helped me to tackle many difficulties. He has been a magnificent Doktorvater. All this being said, I could not have completed my dissertation successfully without the love and patience of Hella. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements vi Table of Contents vii Abbreviations x Preface xi Introduction to the Correspondence 1. History of the manuscripts xv 1.1. Descartes’ letters to Regius xv 1.1.1. Descartes’ legacy in Stockholm xv 1.1.2. The first dispute between Clerselier and Regius xvi 1.1.3. The letters sent to Regius xx 1.2. Regius’ letters to Descartes xx 1.2.1. The second dispute between Clerselier and Regius xx 1.2.2. After Clerselier: Legrand, Baillet and Marmion xxii 2. Description and assessment of the sources xxiv 2.1. Lettres de Mr Descartes, ed. Clerselier (1657) xxiv 2.1.1 Sources xxv 2.1.2. Editorial problems xxvii 2.1.3. Clerselier’s interventions: an outline xxx 2.1.4. Clerselier’s interventions: Descartes’ letters to Regius xxxiv 2.2. La vie de Mr Des-Cartes, by A. Baillet (1691) xxxv 2.3. The Exemplaire de l’Institut xxxviii 2.3.1. The Clerselier collection of Regius’ letters to Descartes xl 2.4. Debrecen xli 3. The present edition xliii 3.1. The arrangement of the correspondence xliii 3.2. The establishment of the text xliv 3.2.1. Clerselier’s Lettres de Mr Descartes xliv 3.2.2. Baillet’s La vie de Mr Des-Cartes xlv 3.2.3. Exemplaire de l’Institut xlvi 3.2.4. Debrecen xlvi Introductory notes to the Correspondence 1. The calendars in the Dutch Republic xlvii 2. Utrecht University 1636–1650 xlvii 2.1 Disputations li 2.2 Academic holidays lii 3. Descartes’ whereabouts 1635–1650 liii vii Table of Contents The Correspondence between Descartes and Henricus Regius 1. Regius to Descartes [8/] 18 August 1638 3 2. Descartes to Regius [between 19 and 23 August 1638] 10 3. Regius to Descartes [early February 1639] 12 4. Regius to Descartes 19/29 March 1639 15 5. Æmilius to Descartes [late March or early April 1639] 16 6. Regius to Descartes 17 May 1639 20 7. Regius to Descartes 14 [/24] July 1639 23 8. Regius to Descartes [first half of September 1639] 26 9. Regius to Descartes [first half of November 1639] 28 10. Regius to Descartes 3 December 1639 30 11. Regius to Descartes [early 1640] 32 12. Regius to Descartes 5 [/15] May 1640 37 13. Descartes to Regius [24 May 1640] 41 14. Regius to Descartes 20/30 May 1640 49 15. Descartes to Regius [June 1640] 51 16. Regius to Descartes 7 October 1640 [NS?] 54 17. Descartes to Regius [April 1641] 57 18. Regius to Descartes 21 April [/1 May] 1641 60 19 A. Descartes to Regius [early May 1641] 63 B. Descartes to Regius [early May 1641] 64 20. Descartes to Regius [first half of May 1641] 70 21. Descartes to Regius [second half of May 1641] 72 22. Descartes to Regius [June 1641] 74 23. Descartes to Regius [July 1641] 76 24. Descartes to Regius [between June and October 1641] 78 25. Descartes to Regius [between June and October 1641] 80 26. Descartes to Regius [before mid-October 1641] 83 27. Descartes to Regius [Autumn 1641] 85 28. Descartes to Regius [November 1641] 87 29. Descartes to Regius [second half of December 1641] 90 30. Regius to Descartes [14/] 24 January 1642 95 31. Descartes to Regius [late January 1642] 98 32. Regius to Descartes [23 January/] 2 February 1642 110 33. Descartes to Regius [3 or 4 February 1642] 113 34. Descartes to Regius 6 February 1642 119 35. Descartes to Regius [6 February 1642] 122 36. Regius to Descartes 17/27 February 1642 125 37. Regius to Descartes [23 February/] 5 March 1642 126 38. Descartes to Regius [between 5 and c.10 March 1642] 130 39. Descartes to Regius [between c.10 and c.25 March 1642] 137 40. Descartes to Regius [between 25 and 31 March 1642] 139 viii Descartes–Regius Correspondence 41. Regius to Descartes [21/] 31 March 1642 141 42. Descartes to Regius [early April 1642] 144 43. Regius to Descartes 4 April 1642 146 44. Regius to Descartes 1 June 1642 [NS?] 149 45. Descartes to Regius [June 1642] 152 46. Regius to Descartes [Winter 1642–1643] 157 47. Regius to Descartes [before May 1643] 163 48. Regius to Descartes [between early December 1642 and May 1643] 165 49. Regius to Descartes [late July or August 1643] 167 50. Regius to Descartes [9/] 19 February 1644 172 51. Regius to Descartes 4 June 1644 174 52. Regius to Descartes [late July or August 1644] 176 53. Regius to Descartes [8/]18 November 1644 178 54. Regius to Van Hogelande [8/]18 November 1644 180 55. Regius to Descartes [13/] 23 June 1645 181 56. Regius to Descartes 6 July 1645 [NS?] 185 57. Descartes to Regius [July 1645] 187 58. Regius to Descartes 23 July 1645 [NS?] 189 59. Descartes to Regius [late July or early August 1645] 192 APPENDIX Henricus Regius, Physiologia (1641) 195 Introduction 195 Textual note 196 Physiologia Ia 199 Physiologia Ib 205 Physiologia IIa 211 Physiologia IIb 217 Physiologia IIIa 223 Physiologia IIIb 231 Physiologia VI (Sectio I; Sectio II (partly)) 241 Biographical Lexicon 249 A Concise Regius Chronicle 257 Bibliography 261 Concordances on CLE (1657), CLE (1663), AT and the Present Edition 280 Index of special subjects in the Commentary 282 Index of Names 283 Samenvatting 289 Curriculum Vitae 292 ix ABBREVIATIONS Editions AM Correspondance de Descartes, Ch. Adam and G. Milhaud (eds.), 8 vols., 1936–1963. AT Œuvres de Descartes, Ch. Adam and P. Tannery (eds.), 11 vols., 1964–1974. B Descartes/Regius, Il carteggio. Le polemiche, R. Bordoli (ed.), 1996 CLE Lettres de Mr Descartes, Cl. Clerselier (ed.), 3 vols., 1657–67. CM Correspondance du P. Marin Mersenne, C. de Waard et al. (eds.), 18 vols., 1945–1991. CSM(K) The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, J. Cottingham et al. (eds.), 3 vols., 1991. M Opere scientifiche di Descartes, vol. I, La Biologia, G. Micheli (ed.), 1966. NH Testimonium Academiae Ultrajectinae, et Narratio Historica, Utrecht, 1643. Querelle Descartes/Schoock, La Querelle d’Utrecht, Th. Verbeek (ed.), 1988. RL Lettres a` Regius, G. Rodis-Lewis (ed.), 1959. Vie La vie de Monsieur Des-Cartes, A. Baillet, 1691. Reference works Acta The minutes of the Senate of Utrecht University, in: Acta et decreta Senatus; Vroedschapsresolutien¨ , G. Kernkamp , 3 vols., 1936–1940, vol. I. BLA Biographisches Lexikon der hervorragenden Arzte¨ aller Zeiten und Volker¨ , W. Haberling et al. (eds.), 6 vols., 1929–1935. BLGNP Biografisch Lexicon voor de Geschiedenis van het Nederlandse Protes- tantisme, D.