Abstract
Mersenne’s expressions of disappointment at not finding in the Meditationes the expected definitive proof of immortality led Descartes to define more precisely the limits of the role of reason in the question of soul survival. Mersenne’s objections reveal an expectation that reason would address every possible aspect of the question, including the ultimate challenge arising from God’s power to annihilate what is by nature incorruptible. Descartes’ replies indicate where the role of reason ends and that of faith enters. Both Mersenne and Descartes could find support for their divergent positions in the vast contemporary philosophical and apologetic literature on the nature of the human soul.
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© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Fowler, C.F. (1999). What Constitutes a Demonstration of Immortality?. In: Descartes on the Human Soul. International Archives of the History of Ideas / Archives Internationales D’Histoire des Idées, vol 160. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4804-7_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4804-7_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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