Descartes and a Queen

On February 11, 1650, René Descartes, the person most often identified as the father of modern European philosophy, died in Sweden. The month before, he had written to a friend, “I am not in my element here.” Descartes, born in 1596 in southern France, was a celebrated philosopher at the time of his death, though also the subject of sustained criticism. He went to Stockholm at the request of Queen Christina (1626–1689) in order to tutor her in philosophy. They had corresponded on metaphysics and the nature and value of love. The fierce cold, a rigorous early morning schedule, and, in the end, pneumonia proved fatal.

Descartes' short-lived but cordial relationship with the queen reflected his enthusiasm for philosophical dialogue with women at a time when women were still excluded from a formal, higher education. The first correspondence between Christina and Descartes involved themes that were close to the heart of Cambridge Platonists. “The goodness of each thing,” Descartes wrote in 1647, “can be considered in itself without reference to anything else, and in this sense it is evident that God is the supreme good, since he is incomparably more perfect than any creature.” Descartes went on to extol the goodness of freedom and the additional good of things in relation to greater goods.