Part 1 Editor's Foreword Part 2 Preface Part 3 Chronology Part 4 Introduction Part 5 THE DICTIONARY Part 6 Bibliography Chapter 7 Introduction Chapter 8 Texts and editions: Other Writers Chapter 9 Works on Descartes Chapter 10 Works on Cartesians and Other 17th-Century Figures Part 11 About the Authors
Le Clerc was not a particularly original philosopher – his position was somewhat eclectic – but his journals and textbooks make him an important historical figure. He acted as an intermediary between English and Continental traditions. In religion he advocated an attitude of toleration.
Andreas Colvius, the son of Nicolaas Kolff and Maria Van Slingelandt, was born in Dordrecht. He went to Leiden for theological studies (1612) and then continued his studies abroad elsewhere, including at Geneva (1618). Back in Dordrecht (1619) he became minister in the neighboring village of Rijsoord, where he remained until 1622. In that year he accompanied the first Dutch ambassador to Venice, Johan Berck (1565–1627), as chaplain. He used this Venetian period to meet Italian scholars, like Paolo Sarpi (1552–1623), whose History of the Inquisition he translated, and to collect and copy books and manuscripts, like Galileo's Del flusso e riflusso del mare (then as yet unpublished). He returned in 1627 and in 1628 received a call as minister to the Dordrecht Église wallonne (the Francophone Reformed Church). He retired from the ministry in 1666 and died July 1, 1671, leaving a rich library and a huge collection of “curiosities.”
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La recherche de la vérité par la lumière naturelle is the title given to a dialogue among three people, Poliander, Epistemon, and Eudoxe, in which Poliander represents the views of a gentleman of good breeding but without any formal education in philosophy; Epistemon, the position of a traditional philosopher who has read extensively in philosophical literature; and Eudoxe, the position of a Cartesian, who relies on his own intelligence. The intention is to show that, as long as one uses one's common sense, it is not difficult to choose between the traditional approach to philosophy, which relies on reading, memory, and authority, and the Cartesian approach, which relies on one's own intelligence. The dialogue form, which is unique in Descartes’ work, could be an experiment in style or an imitation of Galileo. However, the underlying technique of confronting the two approaches and leaving it to the common reader to decide is, to a certain extent, familiar from Descartes’ other works, like the planned but never realized sequel to the Discourse on Method (1637), the Objections and Replies that accompany the Meditations (1641), and even the Principles of Philosophy (1644).
