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Passions of the Soul

René Descartes · 1649

Descartes's final treatise, completed in 1649, offering a physiological explanation of the emotions and dedicated to Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia.

Descartes's last work, explaining the emotions through physiology, written out of his exchange with Princess Elisabeth.

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Title page of the 1649 French edition of Les Passions de l'Ame by René Descartes. Large serif title 'LES PASSIONS DE L'AME', 'PAR RENE DES CARTES' below, a crowned fleur-de-lis coat of arms in an oval wreath, and a Paris publication imprint at the bottom.
René Descartes, Les Passions de l'Âme, title page, 1649. Paris.

About this source

What it is

The last philosophical treatise written by René Descartes, completed in 1649 and dedicated to Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia. It grew out of his long correspondence with her about happiness and the passions, and explains emotions as physical events in the body linked to the soul, involving the pineal gland.

Why it matters

Descartes approached the passions not as a moralist or orator but, in his own words,

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Title page of the 1637 first edition of Discours de la Methode, in old French printed type. Text reads Discours de la Methode, Pour bien conduire sa raison, & chercher la verite dans les sciences, plus La Dioptrique, Les Meteores, et La Geometrie, with a small woodcut emblem of a figure with a lantern in a laurel wreath, and imprint A Leyde, De l'Imprimerie de Ian Maire, 1637.Book

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Discourse on the Method

René Descartes · 1637

Title page of the 1641 Latin edition of Descartes' Meditationes de prima philosophia, printed in Paris by Michael Soly. Red and black type, with an engraved emblem of a phoenix rising from flames within a circle, and the date M.DC.XLI at the bottom.Book

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Meditations on First Philosophy

René Descartes · 1641

Title page of the 1637 first edition of Descartes' Discours de la Methode, in French. The text lists it with La Dioptrique, Les Meteores, and La Geometrie as essays of this method, printed at Leyde by Ian Maire. A small engraved vignette of a figure with a tree and landscape appears in the center.Document

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La Géométrie

René Descartes · 1637

Oil painting of a man with shoulder-length dark wavy hair, a thin mustache, and a white collar over a dark jacket, turning his head toward the viewer against a brown background, with one hand visible at the lower right.Painting

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Portrait of René Descartes

Frans Hals · 1649

Title page of a book reading 'Renati Des-Cartes Principia Philosophiae', with a Latin subtitle, an engraving of a winged figure and a robed figure beside a armillary sphere with banner 'Indefessus Agendo', an oval library stamp, and imprint 'Amstelodami, Ex Typographia Blaviana, MDCLXXXV'.Book

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Principles of Philosophy

René Descartes · 1644

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