THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN PRINCESS ELISABETH OF BOHEMIA AND RENÉ DESCARTES THE OTHER VOICE IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE A Series Edited by Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil Jr. RECENT BOOKS IN THE SERIES FRANCISCA DE LOS APÓSTOLES MARIE-MADELEINE PIOCHE DE LA The Inquisition of Francisca: A VERGNE, COMTESSE DE LAFAYETTE Sixteenth-Century Visionary on Trial Zayde: A Spanish Romance Edited and Translated by Gillian T. W. Edited and Translated by Nicholas D. 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Published 2007 Printed in the United States of America 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 1 2 3 4 5 ISBN-13: 978-0-226-20441-3 (cloth) ISBN-13: 978-0-226-20442-0 (paper) ISBN-10: 0-226-20441-3 (cloth) ISBN-10: 0-226-20442-1 (paper) The University of Chicago Press gratefully acknowledges the generous support of James E. Rabil, in memory of Scottie W. Rabil, toward the publication of this book. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Elisabeth, Countess Palatine, 1618–1680. [Correspondence. English. Selections] The correspondence between Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and René Descartes / edited and translated by Lisa Shapiro. p. cm. — (The other voice in early modern Europe) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-226-20441-3 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-226-20441-3 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-226-20442-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-226-20442-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Descartes, Reni, 1596–1650—Correspondence. 2. Elisabeth, Countess Palatine, 1618–1680—Correspondence. 3. Philosophy, Modern—17th century. I. Shapiro, Lisa. II. Descartes, Reni, 1596–1650. Correspondence. English. Selections. III. Title. B1873.E55 2007 193—dc22 2006039657 (cid:2)(cid:2) The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. CONTENTS Acknowledgments / vii Series Editor’s Introduction / ix Volume Editor’s Introduction / 1 Volume Editor’s Bibliography / 52 Note on Texts and Translation / 58 The Correspondence / 61 Appendix: Additional Correspondence of Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia / 183 Series Editors’ Bibliography / 217 Index / 237 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This edition of Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia’s correspondence with Des- cartes and with others has been a long time in the making, and so there are many thanks due to those who have provided assistance, advice, and en- couragement along the way. I thank the Other Voice series editors for their interest in this volume, their patience as it awaited completion, and their com- ments on it. The enthusiasm of Annette Baier and Stephen Engstrom when I fi rst began thinking about the project provided the impetus to get started on it. Daniel Garber and Eileen O’Neill provided signifi cant encouragement and advice that carried through to the completion of the project. Their generosity of spirit has been remarkable. The conference on women philosophers of the seventeenth century at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst organized in 1998 by Eileen O’Neill, with Vere Chappell and Robert Sleigh, provided an occasion for me to begin thinking about Elisabeth’s metaphysics. Another conference on seventeenth-century women philosophers organized by Dan Kaufman at the University of Florida gave me occasion to work out Elisabeth’s position in moral philosophy. I was able to try out my translation and my read- ing of Elisabeth on students in a Nordic graduate course at Uppsala Univer- sity. I thank them for their patience and comments. Lilli Alanen, Annette Baier, Robert D’Amico, and Charles Pidgen provided helpful feedback on parts of the introduction. Karen Detlefsen provided thoughtful comments on the whole of it. Several have alerted me to and helped me access archival material. I thank Carol Pal for drawing my attention to mentions of Elisabeth in the Pell and Coventry papers. Theo Verbeek and Erik-Jan Bos facilitated my access- ing the newly rediscovered manuscripts of Elisabeth’s letters and, with Jeroen van de Ven, provided answers to questions of historical context. Dr. Jorien Jas, of the Geldersch Landschap/Geldersche Kasteelen, made my examination of those manuscripts seem effortless. Thanks to Susanne Fader, Jennifer Liderth, vii viii Acknowledgments and Patrick Monaghan for help in the mechanics of preparing the manuscript. Thanks to Randy Petilos for help in securing permission for the portraits of Elisabeth and for his general editorial assistance. Susan Tarcov’s fi ne copy- editing improved the translation immensely. The errors remain all my own. Eileen’s work on the women philosophers of the early modern period deserves special mention. Her efforts to rehabilitate and methods in reading these women are inspirational. Her own work provides a model that mine can only attempt to emulate. Support from the National Endowment for the Humani- ties, the American Council of Learned Societies, and Simon Fraser University facilitated the completion of this edition. Lisa Shapiro THE OTHER VOICE IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE: INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil Jr. THE OLD VOICE AND THE OTHER VOICE In western Europe and the United States, women are nearing equality in the professions, in business, and in politics. Most enjoy access to educa- tion, reproductive rights, and autonomy in fi nancial affairs. Issues vital to women are on the public agenda: equal pay, child care, domestic abuse, breast cancer research, and curricular revision with an eye to the inclusion of women. These recent achievements have their origins in things women (and some male supporters) said for the fi rst time about six hundred years ago. Theirs is the “other voice,” in contradistinction to the “fi rst voice,” the voice of the educated men who created Western culture. Coincident with a gen- eral reshaping of European culture in the period 1300–1700 (called the Renaissance or early modern period), questions of female equality and op- portunity were raised that still resound and are still unresolved. The other voice emerged against the backdrop of a three-thousand- year history of the derogation of women rooted in the civilizations related to Western culture: Hebrew, Greek, Roman, and Christian. Negative at- titudes toward women inherited from these traditions pervaded the intel- lectual, medical, legal, religious, and social systems that developed during the European Middle Ages. The following pages describe the traditional, overwhelmingly male views of women’s nature inherited by early modern Europeans and the new tradition that the “other voice” called into being to begin to challenge reign- ing assumptions. This review should serve as a framework for understanding the texts published in the series The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe. Introductions specifi c to each text and author follow this essay in all the volumes of the series. ix