Geraud de Cordemoy: Six Discourses on the Distinction between the Body and the Soul

163 Pages·2015·0.737 MB·English

by  Steven Nadler

OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,19/3/2015,SPi
Six Discourses on the Distinction between
the Body and the Soul
and
Treatises on Metaphysics
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OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,19/3/2015,SPi
Géraud de Cordemoy
Six Discourses on the Distinction
between the Body and the Soul
and
Treatises on Metaphysics
translated with an introduction by
Steven Nadler
1
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,19/3/2015,SPi
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Contents
Acknowledgements vi
Introduction:GérauddeCordemoyandLeDiscernement
duCorpsetdel’Ame 1
GérauddeCordemoy:LifeandWorks 3
ACartesianDecade 10
LeDiscernementduCorpsetdel’AmeenSixDiscours 14
Cordemoy’sInfluence 45
TextsandTranslations 49
References 50
Six Discourses on the Distinction between the Body
and the Soul
ToYourMajesty 54
Preface 56
FirstDiscourse:OnBodiesandMatter 60
SecondDiscourse:OntheMotionandRestofBodies 70
ThirdDiscourse:OnNaturalandArtificialMachines 81
FourthDiscourse:OntheFirstCauseofMotion 93
FifthDiscourse:OntheUnionofMindandBody 102
SixthDiscourse:OntheDistinctionBetweenBodyandSoul 108
Treatises on Metaphysics
I. WhatConstitutestheHappinessorMiseryofMinds 145
II. ThatGodDoesEverythingThatisRealinOurActions,
WithoutDeprivingUsofFreedom 150
IndexofNames 155
IndexofTopics 156
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Acknowledgements
MythankstoUllrichLangerandSandrineRouxfortheirhelponsome
finer points of French translation, and to Peter Momtchiloff at Oxford
University Press for his support of this project. I am also very grateful
to the two anonymous readers for Oxford University Press for their
extensive comments on an early draft of this translation; I very much
appreciatethetimeandefforttheygenerouslyputintohelpingmakethe
translationmoreaccurateandabetterread.
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Introduction
Géraud de Cordemoy and Le
’
Discernement du Corps et de l Ame
ItwasnotlongafterthedeathofthegreatRenéDescartesin1650thathis
philosophywaswellonitswaytobecomingthedominantphilosophical
and scientific paradigm in Europe. There were, of course, competing
intellectualtraditionsinthisperiod,includingmaterialism(represented
most prominently in its Epicurean form by Pierre Gassendi, and in a
non-Epicurean form by Thomas Hobbes)1 and skepticism, in both
libertine (Pierre Charon, La Mothe Le Vayer) and religious (Blaise
Pascal,PierreBayle)guises.2Moreover,Cartesianismwasstillaconten-
tiousphilosophywithplentyofpowerfulopponents.Itwasregardedasa
radicalbreakwithphilosophical, scientific,andevenreligioustradition,
andcameinforagooddealofcensurefromFrenchecclesiasticandcivil
authorities.Itwasalsoattackedbythemoreconservativeelementsinthe
academicfaculties,whichhadlongbeenweddedtoAristotelianphiloso-
phy.3 And yet, despite these difficulties, the principles of Cartesian
epistemology, metaphysics, and natural philosophy informed much of
intellectual life in the academies, conférences, and salons of Paris and
elsewhere(andeventuallythecollegesanduniversitiesaswell)untiltheir
eclipsebyNewtonianscienceintheeighteenthcentury.Eventhesessions
of the official Académie des Sciences, founded by Louis XIV at the
instigationofhisfinanceministerJean-BaptisteColbert,weredominated
by discussions of Cartesian physics and mathematics. As Francisque
1 ForthecontrastbetweenCartesianphilosophyand17th-cent.Epicureanism(bothits
Gassendistformandmoregenerally),seeLennon1993andWilson2008.
2 SeePopkin2003.
3 OnthecensureofCartesianisminthe17thcent.,seeCousin1841.
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
INTRODUCTION
Bouillier,thenineteenth-centuryauthorofamagisterialhistoryofCar-
tesian philosophy,puts it(albeit with not alittle exaggeration), “during
morethanahalf-century,theredidnotappearinFranceasinglebookof
philosophy,therewasnotasinglephilosophicaldiscussion,thatdidnot
haveDescartesasitsobject,thatwasneitherfornoragainsthissystem.”4
1666wasawatershedyearinthefortunesofCartesianphilosophyin
France. Barely three years after Descartes’s works were placed on the
CatholicChurch’sIndexofProhibitedBooks(doneccorrigantur—“until
they are corrected”), two of the most important treatises in that philo-
sophical camp were published. Bothworkswerewrittenbymembersof
theprofessionalclasswhofoundtimetopursuephilosophyinaserious
way, both dealt with the same general metaphysical themes, and both
offerednovelandcreativesolutionstosomeresidualproblemsbequeathed
bytheirintellectualmentor.
Louis de La Forge (1632–66) was a physician in Saumur who had
recentlyparticipatedintheposthumouspublicationofDescartes’strea-
tiseonthehumanbody(theTreatiseonMan[Traitédel’homme],1664)
by supplying illustrations and extensive editorial and a philosophical
commentary. In January 1666,5 he published his own Treatise on the
Human Mind (Traité de l’esprit de l’homme). Completed sometime in
late1665butbasedonideas LaForge hadbeenentertaining forseveral
years,thiswasarelativelyfaithfulbutnonethelessinnovativeandinflu-
entialcontinuationofDescartes’sprojectofinvestigatinghumannature,
andespeciallytheproblematicrelationshipbetweenmindandbody.
Then,inthesamemonththatLaForge’sbookappeared,theParisian
publisher Florentin Lambert, housed on the rue Saint Jacques, brought
outa230-pagetreatise(in-12)withthetitleLeDiscernementduCorpset
del’Ameensixdiscourspourserviràl’éclaircissementdelaphysique(The
DistinctionBetweentheBodyandtheSoulinSixDiscourses,toservefor
the elucidation of physics—I will henceforth refer to this as Six Dis-
courses). Its author, a 40-year-old lawyer named Géraud (alternatively
spelledGerauld)deCordemoy,wasalreadywell-knownwithinParisian
Cartesian circles; the publication of the Six Discourses marked the
4 Bouillier1868,i.430.
5 The1stednborea1666publicationdate,althoughtheworkwasapparentlyprintedin
Dec.1665.
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GÉRAUD DE CORDEMOY: LE DISCERNEMENT DU CORPS ET DE L’AME 
beginningofashortperiodinwhichhetookaleadingroleinthepublic
defenseofthisstillrelativelynewphilosophy.
Cordemoy’srelativelyconcisetreatise(atleastbyearlymodernstand-
ards) represents one of the most important and influential, if unortho-
dox, works in the history of Cartesianism. The Six Discourses is among
theoriginalseventeenth-centurysourcesofthefamouscausaldoctrineof
occasionalism, which it presented years before that doctrine’s more
extensiveandcelebratedappearanceinMalebranche’sworks.Cordemoy
alsoargued,contrarytosomeofthefoundationalprinciplesofCartesian
metaphysics,foranatomisticconceptionofmatter.Whilehisviewswere
harshly criticized by fellow Cartesians, no less a thinker than Leibniz
foundhimtobeoneofthemoreperspicaciousmembersofthatmove-
mentandfoundmuchtoadmireintheSixDiscourses.
Géraud de Cordemoy: Life and Works
Cordemoy was born in Paris in October 1626.6 He was one of four
children, and the only son, of Géraud de Cordemoy (b. 1591) and his
wifeNicoleBucé.Thefamilywaswell-off,anddescendedfromnobility
in Auvergne. Géraud père was, for a time, Professor of Human Lan-
guages at the Université de Paris, and subsequently was appointed
controlleroftithesinLangres.By1667,hewasalawyerattheParlement
ofParis.Géraud filswouldfollowhisfatherintoaParisianlegalcareer,
althoughhisrealpassionlayelsewhere.
WeknownexttonothingaboutCordemoy’slifeuntilhismarriageto
Marie de Chazelles, which must have taken place sometime before
December 1651, when Louis-Géraud, the first of their five children,
was born. Nor do we have much information about his legal career,
although he reportedly served the Parlement with some distinction (if
notgreateloquence).7
However,Cordemoyseemstohavebeenconstitutionallyunsuitedfor
the life of a Parisian lawyer—he apparently had little taste for the
6 October6wasthedateeitherofhisbirthorofhisbaptism;thereseemstobesome
disagreementonthis.ForfullerbiographicalstudiesofCordemoy,includingexamination
ofthedocumentarysources,seeBattail1973,andthe“Étudebio-bibliographique”byPierre
ClairandFrançoisGirbal,inCordemoy1968,15–84.
7 ForCordemoy’slegalcareer,seeCordemoy1968,17–22.