Descartes and his Network

The aim of the project Descartes and his Network is to chart the complex network of patronship and scientific collaboration entertained by the French philosopher René Descartes (1596–1650) during his stay in the Low Countries (1629–1649). It intends to make a significant contribution both to Descartes’ intellectual biography and to the study of scientific and philosophical communication in the early modern period in general. This is pursued through three complementary projects:

• A new critical edition of the correspondence of Descartes
• Descartes and the experimental tradition
• The life and works of Henricus Reneri (1593–1639)

The project is directed by Prof.dr. Theo Verbeek.

Collaborators:

• Dr. Erik-Jan Bos (New edition of the correspondence)
• Drs. Robin Buning (Life and works of Henricus Reneri)
• Dr. Carla Rita Palmerino (Descartes and the experimental tradition)
• Dr. Delphine Bellis (Descartes and the experimental tradition)

The project is financed by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

Previous projects

Descartes and his Network draws for an important part on the results of two earlier projects that were supervised by Theo Verbeek. The first one was entitled Towards a new edition of Descartes’ works and correspondence. This project, sponsored by NWO, resulted in three PhD dissertations:

• Erik-Jan Bos, The Correspondence of Descartes and Henricus Regius, Utrecht: ZENO Institute, Quaestiones Infinitae vol. 37A, 2002.
• Matthijs van Otegem, A Bibliography of the Works of Descartes (1637–1704), Utrecht: ZENO Institute, Quaestiones Infinitae vol. 38, 2002.
• Corinna Vermeulen (ed.), René Descartes: Specimina philosophiae. Introduction and Critical Edition, Utrecht: ZENO Institute, Quaestiones Infinitae vol. 53, 2007.

The second project aimed at preparing a pilot study of Descartes’ correspondence. It was sponsored by ZENO: The Leiden and Utrecht Research Institute for Philosophy.

• Theo Verbeek, Erik-Jan Bos and Jeroen van de Ven (eds.), The Correspondence of Descartes: 1643, Utrecht: ZENO Institute, Quaestiones Infinitae vol. 45, 2003.