Theological Origins of Modernity

descartes’ path to truth 175
Beeckman, who was a philosophical talent in his own right, recognized
Descartes’ genius and strongly encouraged him to give up all other aspirations
and become a searcher for truth. 19 Th ey worked on mathematics and
read several Hermetic texts together. Beeckman’s infl uence was profound. 20
Descartes did not, however, immediately follow the path that Beeckman
urged upon him. Instead, he headed for Germany (via Copenhagen), supposedly
to join in the wars of religion that were under way at the time. It
is generally assumed that he was a member of the army of Maximilian
I, the Catholic Prince of Bavaria, who later allied himself with the new
Emperor Ferdinand II and defeated the Protestant forces of Frederick,
Elector of the Palatinate and King of Bohemia, at the Battle of White
Mountain. Watson, however, points out that there is little evidence of this
fact and that it is much more likely that he would have served on the Protestant
side since they were allied with France. In any case, there is no documentary
evidence that Descartes saw any action, and Baillet’s account of
his participation in the rape of Bohemia is good Catholic propaganda but
highly unlikely. 21
Descartes’ stay in Germany was a time of intense intellectual activity
in part certainly because of the intellectual ferment he found there.
In 1613, the elector had married Elizabeth Stuart, the daughter of James
I/VI of England and Scotland, and his lands had as a result been inundated
with intellectual fi gures of the English Renaissance, and especially
those Protestant thinkers who drawing on Hermetic strains of humanist
thought had formed themselves into a secret scientifi c society modeled on
but also meant to oppose the Jesuits. Th ey were called the Rosicrucians. 22
Th ese men drew upon the work of Italian humanists such as Giordano
Bruno and Ficino but also Hermetic magi including Cornelius Agrippa
and Robert Fludd. While in Germany, Descartes met some men who were
attracted to this order and was very much taken with them, their goals,
and their retired manner of life. 23 He also seems to have shared some of the
excitement generated by their apocalyptic fantasies arising out of the same
political and theological tensions that led to the Th irty Years War. 24
Descartes was probably already acquainted with some of the alchemical
and Hermetic writings they drew on from his time at La Flèche and his
acquaintance with Beeckman. 25 Charles Adam believes he may have also
have already read the most important Hermetic work of the time, Cornelius
Agrippa’s De occulta philosophia. 26 Th is sympathy for Hermeticism was
further strengthened by his contact with the Rosicrucian mathematician
Johannes Faulhaber during his time in Germany. Rosicrucianism clearly
had an impact on Descartes, and it helped to shape his early philosophical
project. 27 A brief examination of Rosicrucianism makes clear why.