CHAPTER V THE PHILOSOPHERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AT the time when religious philosophy was carried by the Port-Royalists to such a high degree of penetration and subtlety, lay philosophy, if such a phrase is permissible, was represented by the greatest men whom philosophy has ever inspired in France. These were Descartes, Gassendi, Pascal, and, a little later, Malebranche. Descartes belonged to a family of noble rank, and was born at La Haye, in Touraine, which to-day glories in calling itself La-Haye-Descartes. He served in the army with distinction, and afterwards devoted himself entirely to the study of philosophy, mathematics, physics, and astronomy. As a scientist the world is indebted to him for a geometry, for studies on the laws of refraction and the astronomical telescope, for a system of the world explained by the theory of "vortexes," which has been much criticised and which modern science is not inclined to accept; above all, he gave to the world an entirely new method, for he was the first to apply mathematics to physics, and no discovery has been more beneficial to science. As a philosopher he wrote the "Discours sur la Méthode," which is regarded as the model, and also the point of departure, for all modern science; "Des Méditations philosophiques,' which from the standpoint of investigation and dialectics may be regarded as an authoritative work; a "Traité des Passions,' which contains a more subtle and realistic psychology than had ever before been attempted and to which Spinoza's "Ethic" owes its origin. Descartes is rightly considered the father of all modern philosophy. "As a constructive system,' wrote M. Liard, 'Cartesianism is absolutely dead, but the Cartesian method is still living, and has been the cause of the philosophic development of three centuries. Descartes is the father not merely of the seventeenth century and part of the eighteenth, with Spinoza and Leibnitz, but likewise of the critical genius of Kant and even of Comte's positivism. He established definitively liberty of mind and the sovereignty of reason.' It may truly be said that Descartes created Pascal, for it was Descartes's example and the study of his works that made Pascal while he was still quite young devote himself to the study of mathematical physics. Although Pascal's life was so short a one, there were three distinct phases in it—the first when he devoted himself with enormous enthusiasm to scientific studies, corresponding with all the most famous savants of Europe, making experiments on the weight of the air, inventing various instruments for applied mathematics, &c.; the second period, when, deeply influenced by the Jansenists, he threw himself into the great controversy and revealed himself as a marvellous polemical writer. It was then that he wrote the "Lettres Provinciales," and so left behind him an immortal monument of passionate logic and eloquent irony, written in the most admirable French. During his third period, when he was examining the truths of the Christian religion, he began a book which was to be an apology for Christianity, and wrote those astonishing "Notes" which were published after his death as "Les Pensées." Pascal was one of the greatest of French philosophers, and perhaps he may even be considered as the greatest of French writers. A profound moralist, a subtle and vigorous dialectician and a great orator, according as we consider him the author of the "Provinciales," of the finished works he left behind him, or of those fragmentary pieces, the "Pensées"; finally, a great poet by reason of his imagination, now sombre and tragic, now suffused by faith and elevated by hope. There is no man who makes us think, meditate, and reflect more, and who is more capable, when he so desires, of revealing to us at a glance the infinite. Descartes created a philosophical language and style, but eloquent philosophy which is yet truly philosophical dates from Pascal. During this period Gassendi, a Provençal, and a Frenchman PHILOSOPHERS 397 in spite of his Italian name (who, by the way, called himself simply Gassend), represented, in contrast to these definite and passionate idealists, the philosophy which is called positive. He was filled with the Epicurean doctrine, which is not, in spite of the ordinarily accepted meaning of the word, an immoral philosophy. Very austere in his own life, occupied solely with philosophical investigations, corresponding with Galileo, Campanella, Father Mersenne (the friend of Descartes), and with Descartes himself, who called him "the Flesh" and whom he called "the Spirit," he reconstructed in the light of modern science the whole system of Epicurus and Lucretius, and supported it with great skill in both argument and explanation. His works are written in Latin and are entitled: "Syntagma Philosophiæ Epicuri," "Exercitationes Paradoxicæ," "Disquisitio adversus Cartesium," &c. He lectured a great deal, and gathered round him several pupils during his somewhat short sojourn at Paris, and among these are to be counted Cyrano de Bergerac, Chapelle, and Molière. Malebranche was a pupil of Descartes and an enthusiastic disciple. To the cold and luminous reasoning power of Descartes he joined a brilliant and slightly reckless imagination, in spite of the fact that he spoke strongly against imagination. "No one has written against imagination with more imagination," said Voltaire. His system, a very bold one, which no one any longer defends, cannot be explained here; but Malebranche will always be read for the sake of the notes he wrote as a kind of commentary on his system, which reveal the subtle, spiritual, and yet satirical moralist, for certain lofty passages of great beauty which approach the sublime, and for his platonism, whether seen in elevation of thought or grace of expression. Cousin expressed himself very happily and in a manner that showed a recent study of Malebranche when he said: "He is a Descartes who has lost his way because he has wings." "La Recherche de la Vérité," if only on account of its style, remains one of the great books of the seventeenth century. Malebranche, simply considered as a kind of transition between Descartes and Spinoza, is one of the great names in the history of philosophy. CHAPTER VI THE POETS FROM 1630-1660: "PRÉCIEUX" AND BURLESQUE POETS THE poets from 1630 to 1660, with the exception of the dramatists, whose work will be described later on, are not men of importance, but form a very interesting group in literary history. They were called by the name of precious (précieux), and burlesque. "Preciousness," that is to say, the art of saying trifles in an agreeable fashion, unexpectedly and somewhat enigmatically, had been developed by the Hotel de Rambouillet and the life of the salons. Poets of the "précieux" type abounded between 1630 and 1660; their king was Voiture, a man of wit, too witty indeed, who sought everywhere for wit, and unfortunately found what he sought for. His "Lettres," which Voltaire called "a sorry jest," because he was thinking of his own, are indeed more often the abuse of wit than the legitimate use of it. Some, as, for example, the letters from the carp to the pike to congratulate the Prince of Condé on crossing the Rhine, are really ridiculous and worthy of contempt; others are extremely graceful, revealing a refined and elegant gallantry, models of style and language. A collection of the letters of Voiture to Mdlle. Paulet, for instance, would be a little masterpiece. When it is remembered that these were written at a time when Balzac's "Lettres" were considered letters, it is impossible not to admit that, "in spite of what may be said," Voiture revealed to his contemporaries the true art of letterwriting, and may thus be considered the progenitor of Madame de Sablé and Madame de Sévigné, if in the art of letter-writing these ladies required any master. Voiture's letters are really letters, even if a trifle affected; Balzac's letters are epistles. As a poet he is not so good; he is always remembered by his charming impromptu verses to Anne of Austria, and the two sonnets which competed with one by Malleville and by Benserade respectively, and caused two celebrated literary quarrels. The first was addressed to "Une belle Matineuse, and was compared with Malleville's on the same subject. This is Voiture's sonnet :— "Des portes du matin l'amante de Céphale Malleville's sonnet runs thus: "Le silence régnait sur la terre et sur l'onde, "Quand la jeune Phillis au visage riant, Que les feux de la nuit avaient fait devant vous." |