Princess Elizabeth and Descartes: The union of soul and body and the practice of philosophy

British Journal for the History of Philosophy

Volumn 7, Issue 3, 1999, Pages 503-520

  Shapiro, Lisa ^a  

^a HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ART; CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY; EDUCATION; EMOTION; ETHNOLOGY; FRANCE; HISTORY; HUMAN CHARACTERISTIC; HUMAN RELATION; MATHEMATICS; METAPHYSICS; NOTE; PHILOSOPHY; PHYSIOLOGY; SOCIAL CHANGE; WRITING;

CORRESPONDENCE AS TOPIC; CULTURE; EMOTIONS; FRANCE; HISTORY, 17TH CENTURY; HUMAN BODY; HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS; INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS; MATHEMATICS; METAPHYSICS; NATURAL HISTORY; PHILOSOPHY; SOCIAL CHANGE;

EID: 33750878823     PISSN: 09608788     EISSN: 14693526     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09608789908571042     Document Type: Note

References (3)

1. Andrea Nye, in her 'Polity and Prudence: the Ethics of Elisabeth, Princess Palatine' in Hypatia's Daughters, Linda Lopez McAlister (ed.), Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1996, also aims to set out Elisabeth's own philosophical view. As the title suggests, she is concerned with Elisabeth's ethics, whereas I will be concerned with her metaphysics
2. There has been much attention to Elisabeth's contribution to Descartes's philosophical program in these letters. See Ruth Mattern, 'Descartes's Correspondence with Elisabeth: Concerning Both the Union and Distinction of Mind and Body' in Michael Hooker (ed.), Descartes: Critical and Interpretive Essays, Johns Hopkins UP, 1978; Daniel Garber, 'Under- standing Interaction: What Descartes Should Have Told Elisabeth', Southern Journal of Philosophy, 21, Supplement (1983). What I am interested in exploring here, however, is Elis- abeth's own philosophical position
3. Elisabeth to Descartes, 22 June 1645. It is remarkable just how enduring this expression has been