Suárez’s Influence on Descartes: The Case of Epistle cdxviii (at iv 348–350)

This paper discusses the influence of Suárez’s Disputationes Metaphysicæ on Descartes as can be discerned from one of the latter’s little researched letters: CDXVIII (AT IV 348-350). The French philosopher is not only clearly influenced by scholastic ideas but he also heavily employs the scholastic terminology as systematized by Suárez. Descartes gives the reader the feeling that, even when he wants to distance himself from the scholastic thought, he nevertheless does this by using its language.

Full Text