The Princess and the Philosopher: Letters of Elisabeth of the Palatine to René DescartesRowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1999 - 187 Seiten For a number of years, those interested in recovering women's thought have known about Princess Elisabeth, a seventeenth-century correspondent and friend of Descartes whose questions provoked the philosopher to think more seriously about ethics and the passions. Up to now, only a few of her letters have found their way into print. This volume includes translations of all of Elisabeth's extant letters to Descartes, as well as of other materials relevant to understanding her philosophical perspective and her life. Nye has supplemented the translations with a running commentary on the historical, biographical, and intellectual context of the letters. The letters were during a tumultuous time in European history. A devastating Thirty Years War had ruined Elisabeth's family and devastated their principality, the Palatine. On his part, Descartes was increasingly embroiled in bitter controversies surrounding his work in relatively free-thinking Holland. In her commentary Nye shows how personal experiences energized his and Elisabeth's different views of the relation between mind and body, the existence of God, and the nature of morality. What Nye evokes, along with the thinking of an extraordinary woman, is an alternative model for philosophy, a nonadversarial form of dialogue that does not pretend to objective theorizing. Such a philosophy depends on mutual respect and trust, on concern for the other's sensibilities and views, on friendship between women and men with a common concern for human life. |
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Seite 49
... happy and as content as she deserves , I have no other subject with which to entertain you than to talk of the ways that philosophy teaches us to acquire sovereign happiness , that which vulgar souls wait for in vain from fortune but ...
... happy and as content as she deserves , I have no other subject with which to entertain you than to talk of the ways that philosophy teaches us to acquire sovereign happiness , that which vulgar souls wait for in vain from fortune but ...
Seite 110
... happy . Being happy will make good things happen . It is better that she has no books , so she doesn't worry herself with reading . And she should never think of politics except when the courier is ready to leave . Especially she should ...
... happy . Being happy will make good things happen . It is better that she has no books , so she doesn't worry herself with reading . And she should never think of politics except when the courier is ready to leave . Especially she should ...
Seite 112
... happy in one's heart and trust to fate ? Elisabeth had never been willing to take that advice , and it would have been surprising that she would start when it turns out that fate is not the ordinance of a divine commander of souls but a ...
... happy in one's heart and trust to fate ? Elisabeth had never been willing to take that advice , and it would have been surprising that she would start when it turns out that fate is not the ordinance of a divine commander of souls but a ...
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The Princess and the Philosopher: Letters of Elisabeth of the Palatine to ... Andrea Nye Eingeschränkte Leseprobe - 1999 |
Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
able advice affairs affectionate friend Anna van Schurman answer assured believe body Bohemia brother Cartesianism Catholic cause Chanut Charles-Louis Christina court danger Descartes's Discourse on Method doubt Dutch Dutch Republic effects Egmond Elisabeth emotion Epicurus favor feel fortune France French friendship give Hague happy Heidelberg Herford Highness Holland honor hope House of Orange illness interest judge Krossen Labadists learned letter live marriage matter Meditations metaphysics mind Monsieur Descartes moral mother necessary never obliged one's oneself pain Palatine passions peace person philosophy physical pleasure Pollot prince of Orange Prince Rupert princess Protestant prudence queen question rational reason received René Descartes Rhegius sadness satisfaction seems Seneca Sister of Prince someone soul spirit Sweden tell theologians things thought tion treatise trip trouble truth understand Utrecht virtue Voetius woman worry write wrote young