Translator's preface

Descartes' last philosophical work was written in French, printed in Holland, and published in Amsterdam and Paris in 1649 under the title Les Passions de l'Ame. The book's publication in Paris seems to have been arranged by a ‘friend’ whose anonymous letters, with Descartes' replies, forms its preface.

Descartes composed the work largely at the urging of Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia (1618–80), and its origin can be traced in their correspondence. Elizabeth first mentions the passions when, wondering how the soul can be governed by the body given that they have nothing in common, she asks Descartes to explain ‘the manner of [the soul's] actions and passions in the body’ (20 June 1643). Descartes' reply – that the body causes the soul to have feelings and passions, and the soul causes the body to move, through an inexplicable ‘union’ between the soul and body – did not satisfy the princess. Nor was she satisfied when Descartes sought to answer her question with vague moralizing and practical advice for the control of the passions. Eventually she insisted that he give ‘a definition of the passions, in order to make them well known’ (13 September 1645). Descartes obliged by producing a little ‘treatise on the passions’ which he gave to Elizabeth in 1646. In the following year he entered into correspondence with Queen Christina of Sweden (1626–89), to whom he also sent a copy of the ‘little treatise’, which reportedly she read while hunting.