New Book on Descartes Posits He Was a Spy

December 18, 2006

In his latest book, called "Descartes: The Life and Times of a Genius," British philosophy professor and author A.C. Grayling suggests that the immortal French mathematician and philosopher may have had another, hidden talent.

Descartes' work altered the ways in which we observe nature and ourselves. His methods have helped to form the cornerstone of scientific inquiry. Descartes (1596-1650) pitted mind against matter and challenged our ideas about consciousness. But was there more to the mind behind "cogito, ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am")?

Grayling argues that Descartes might have been a master at something else: spying for the Catholic Church.

In post-Renaissance Europe, the Reformation and Counter Reformation pitted Catholics against Protestants, defining a new world that would alter allegiences and divide the continent by faith. It ws in this era of extreme tension leading up to the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) that Rene Descartes' worldview at Jesuit schools was formed.

Descartes identified with his Catholic upbringing his entire life. His loyalty to one of the Church's most secretive and controversial orders casts a new light on the circumstances surrounding his later career. Although Descartes spent much of his life in the Netherlands, he managed to travel throughout Europe "visiting courts and armies," a witness to critical events leading up to the Thirty Years War.

Scholars and clergy of the era were often involved in covert intelligence. Grayling, therefore, argues that Descartes' presence and involvement in these events was more than mere coincidence.

Descartes' undercoverwork would have greatly aided the Catholic cause.