page_title: Elisabeth of the Palatinate
section_title: Contributions to philosophy: Descartes and other prominent figures
hierarchical_section_title: Elisabeth of the Palatinate / Contributions to philosophy: Descartes and other prominent figures
caption_attribution_description: English: Elisabeth of Bohemia-Palatinatefrom A Sister of Prince Rupert by E. Godfrey. According from the text the original painting this photo is based off of was painted by Gerard Honthorst and hangs in the National Gallery.
context_page_description: Elisabeth of the Palatinate, also known as Elisabeth of Bohemia, Princess Elisabeth of the Palatinate, or Princess-Abbess of Herford Abbey, was the eldest daughter of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, and Elizabeth Stuart. Elisabeth of the Palatinate was a philosopher best known for her correspondence with René Descartes. She was critical of Descartes' dualistic metaphysics and her work anticipated the metaphysical concerns of later philosophers.
context_section_description: Elisabeth met Descartes on one of Descartes' visits to The Hague. Descartes visited The Hague to meet some of the leading intellectual figures in Holland who might support his philosophy. The Hague was often a gathering place to meet other influential, powerful people. As Descartes talked of his ideas, Elisabeth intently listened and became very interested in Descartes' thoughts of the mind and body. After Descartes' visit, it was told to him that Elisabeth had been very interested in his work. Descartes was flattered and told others that he would like to get to know the princess better. Descartes made another visit to The Hague, and was intent on having a conversation with Elisabeth, although this conversation for some reason did not happen.
  Elisabeth, upon hearing of Descartes' failed attempt to converse with her, wrote to Descartes a letter. In this letter, dated May 16, 1643, Elisabeth writes, "tell me please how the soul of a human being (it being only a thinking substance) can determine the bodily spirits and so bring about voluntary actions". Elisabeth is questioning Descartes' idea of dualism and how the soul and the body could interact. Elisabeth rightly questioned how something immaterial (Descartes' idea of the mind) could move something material (the body). Descartes replied to Elisabeth's letter with the answer that this interaction should not be thought of as between two bodies and that it is the kind of union that exists between the two qualities of heaviness and bodies.
  Elisabeth was not satisfied with this answer, so she wrote to Descartes again. In this letter, dated June 20, 1643, Elisabeth writes that she cannot "understand the idea through which we must judge how the soul (nonextended and immaterial) is able to move the body, that is, by that idea through which you have at another time understood heaviness ... And I admit that it would be easier for me to concede matter and extension to the mind than it would be for me to concede the capacity to move a body and be moved by one to an immaterial thing." Jaegwon Kim cites this as the first causal argument for the doctrine of physicalism in philosophy of mind. In another letter from Elisabeth to Descartes dated July 1, 1643, Elisabeth agrees with Descartes that our senses are evidence that the soul does move the body and the body moves the soul, but that this interaction does not teach us anything about how this happens. In Elisabeth's correspondence with Descartes, we can see that Elisabeth assumes that Descartes does have an account of how the soul and body interact and asks for clarification on how the soul does this. In fact, Descartes did not have an exact account of how this happens, but merely assumed the soul had this capability. This particular correspondence between Descartes and Elisabeth ended with this July 1 letter.
  The correspondence began again, but two years later. In this correspondence, Elisabeth and Descartes discuss an illness Elisabeth suffered from in the summer of 1645. Descartes writes to Elisabeth that he thinks her symptoms are caused by sadness. This could very well have been true, as Elisabeth's brother Philip had challenged a family suitor and then stabbed the suitor in public, resulting in social backlash. This caused Elisabeth much distress and worry. Elisabeth originally intended the letters to be private and has no extant philosophical works. This makes her place in the history of philosophy complex and the subject of debate. This specific correspondence between Elisabeth and Descartes is often ignored by many historians, as they see it as insignificant, but a few regard it as influential in that Descartes and Elisabeth seem to be talking of the "passions of the soul", as Descartes referred to them. Some historians have remarked that Elisabeth could have been a philosopher in her own right if it had not been for a lack of a systematic presentation of her philosophical position.
  In addition to Descartes, Elisabeth held correspondence with many others, including various Quakers. Among them most notably were Edward Reynolds
caption: Portrait of Elisabeth from the National Gallery.
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