Descartes's Ballet: His Doctrine of Will and His Political Philosophy

In his 54th year, Rene Descartes went to Stockholm at the invitation of Queen Christina. He caught pneumonia there and died on February 11, 1650. It is said that because Descartes refused to dance, Queen Christina charged him with writing the verses for a court ballet, La Naissance de la Paix. What a wonderful story! Alas, the evidence of Descartes's authorship is virtually nonexistent. Watson provides the first translation of The Birth of Peace into English, and he examines exhaustively the question of its authorship based on original archival research. He also examines Descartes's doctrine of the will to construct a political philosophy for Descartes. The great individualist is found to be a royalist in support of the powers that be, although he chose in fact to live in republican Holland rather than in his homeland France.