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together with the objections of such names as Gassendi and Hobbes, and of some notable
theologians of the time and his own replies to these objections. Meditations, objections to
Meditations and replies to objections take a very important place among the writings of Descartes. 21
What eluded Elisabeth the most in Meditations of Descartes, what would initiate and shape the
course of the correspondences was a simple matter that was lost amid these objections and replies.
To put it in very general terms, the reason why this point was not given the spotlight it deserved was
that the objectors looked at the matter from the perspective of their own system of thought. Those
holding a religion‐oriented view highlighted the issues that would result from the existence of matter
independently of soul and tried to reject such a conception of matter. On the other hand, those with
a scientific orientation pointed out the consequences of the soul’s distinction from the matter and
tried to invalidate it. Elisabeth, on the other hand, very simply asked the following question that
pointed at the weakest point of the Cartesian philosophy: Being two different substances with no
common properties whatsoever, how can the matter and soul interact? 22 One thing can influence
another only if there is a connection between the two, a common aspect through which they can
exchange. A human being, as the union of the soul (or, mind) and body, experiences that his body
influences his soul (or, mind) and vice versa. If they are two separate substances, then how can they
influence each other and how can they interact? This is what the Cartesian philosophy fails to give a
satisfactory answer to, and what constitutes the weakest spot of the whole system.
In his reply to Elisabeth Descartes implicitly accepted that he had disregarded this point and he
specified that his aim was to establish that the two were distinct. 23 Soul has to be independent from
the matter; corporeal things are to be destroyed whereas the soul is immortal. Similarly the matter
must be independent from the soul. Matter has its own laws; although these laws are subject to
God’s will, they are completely independent from the activity of soul. On the ground of the
distinction of matter from soul, a separate science of material nature (which consists solely of
mechanics) becomes possible so that the corporeal nature can be dealt with total disregard of the
nature of soul. Descartes devoted his energy to explaining this point. But then Elisabeth asked
humbly: Forgive the ignorant woman that I am; I was unable to comprehend; if these two are
distinct, then how can they act on one another? How can a hand burn, a completely physical
phenomenon, hurt me? How can I raise my right arm on the basis of my free decision?
It needs to be stated here that Elisabeth’s essential query is directed to the one side of this
interaction. Elisabeth did not really question how body was able to affect the soul. She was
interested in how the soul (or mind) was able to act upon the body: if the soul and matter were
distinct and if the soul only thought, how can the human mind that does nothing but thinks act upon
the bodily animal spirits to perform willful acts? 24 Elisabeth had no doubt that there was an
interaction between soul and body. Taking this interaction as the basis, she questioned Descartes’
dualism at the level of created things. If the soul affected the body, it meant that some unextended
thing acted upon something that has extension; that is to say, the immaterial acted upon the
material; the incorporeal moved the corporeal. Elisabeth did not think that was possible. So instead
of accepting it, she clearly stated that she’d rather consider the mind to be extended. The reason is
that: Extension is necessary for movement and that which is not extended can neither act nor be
acted upon. 25
The question “How can the soul, mind or will act upon the body to which it is united?” is, by its
nature, a metaphysical question. Unfortunately, it did not remain just a metaphysical question to
Elisabeth; it was a matter of life and death. The being in which the interaction of soul and matter
took place was the human (since, according to Descartes, any animal did not have a soul). The human
is the union of soul and body. 26 This union holds in so far as the so‐called interaction takes place. To
be a human is to be a soul and a body, which act upon one another. Elisabeth had physical health
problems. In addition, she was unhappy because of unfortunate things that happened to her family.
She was looking for ways to deal with these problems and handle them willfully. That is the reason
why all philosophical subject‐matters which took place in their correspondences related at the end to
the distinction of mind from the body and to their interaction. How bodily ailments make our souls
unhappy? How the things that make us unhappy deteriorate our bodily health? Is there a way to fix