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She asked Descartes the question he could never answer: if mind and body are separate substances, how does one move the other?
I think, therefore I am. He doubted everything until he found one thing he could not doubt: the fact that he was doubting.
Connection
Descartes correspondent and critic Elisabeth of Bohemia — Elisabeth's questions forced Descartes to confront the mind-body problem he had created.
Ideas
Words
“I beg you to tell me how the soul of a human being can determine the bodily spirits to perform voluntary actions, being only a thinking substance.”
“I think, therefore I am.”
“It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.”
Key Moments
1618 CE
Born in The Hague
1643 CE
Correspondence with Descartes on Mind and Body
1667 CE
Becomes Abbess of Herford
1680 CE
Death at Herford
1596 CE
Born in La Haye en Touraine
1619 CE
The Stove-Heated Room
1641 CE
Publishes Meditations on First Philosophy
1650 CE
Dies in Stockholm
Works
Correspondence with Descartes
Meditations on First Philosophy