The correspondence between Descartes and Princess Elisabeth

Abstract

This is a partial translation of the English version of the correspondence prepared by Jonathan Bennett, whom I thank for authorizing this translation into Portuguese. According to his words, this version has didactic purposes and does not replace the original, aiming "mainly to present the philosophical content of the correspondence". For this purpose, omissions, adaptations, additions and a peculiar formatting were made. " Small ·dots· enclose material that has been added, but can be read as though it were part of the original text. Occasional •bullets, and also indenting of passages that are not quotations, are meant as aids to grasping the structure of a sentence or a thought. Every four-point ellipsis . . . . indicates the omission of a brief passage that seems to present more difficulty than it is worth". In this translation, the longer omissions and editorial explanations were indicated in footnotes. The English versions of this and several other texts from the modern period are available at www.earlymoderntexts.com.