Reading Response Guide: Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia selections from her

correspondence with Descartes, pp. 9-21 [fromWomen Philosophers: Of the

Early Modern Period.; Ed. Atherton; Hackett, 1994]
[You must type your answers to each question, bring a hard copy to class,
make a “good faith” effort to answer every question, and participate in group
discussion, in order to receive credit for this assignment.]
1. Princess Elisabeth (pp. 11-12): Here Princess Elisabeth requests that
Descartes resolve a matter that his Meditations left unclear and problematic.
(a) As best you can, explain the problem that Princess Elisabeth presents to
Descartes.
The problem is that a mans soul can determine ways to enforce voluntary
actions.
2. Descartes (pp. 12-15): In this part of their correspondence, Descartes
attempts to better explain his thinking about the matter that Princess
Elisabeth had raised in her letter.
(a) Summarize Descartes’s view of “primitive notions” and explain how he
thinks it solves Princess Elisabeth’s problem.
Descartes believes primitive notions are based off of the past and claims the
soul and body as one together, which answers Princess Elisabeth’s
question.
(b) Identify and explain Descartes’s conclusion concerning how it is that we
can err in our judgments.
Descartes conclusion is that because we rely on all our senses for beliefs,
which can often deceive us which doesn’t allow for us to capture the soul
for what it is. Which in the end shows is Descartes beliefs is the reason
we can err in our judgements.
3. Elisabeth/Descartes (pp. 15-20): Elisabeth and Descartes present follow-up
responses to the previous letter.
(a) pp. 17-18: Summarize Elisabeth’s lingering criticism of Descartes’s
notion of the union of body and soul.
Elisabeth doesn’t understand Descartes point on how the soul and body are
not apart but together. Because without one the other could not exist.
(b) pp. 18-20: Explain one way in which Descartes tries to resolve the
problem presented by Elisabeth.
Descartes explains that the soul exists in imagination and cannot be
perceived without understanding the body.