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Dialogues posthumes sur le quiétisme by Jean de La Bruyère, Louis-Ellies Du Pin, Richard Parish

2007; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 102; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/mlr.2007.0216

2222-4319

D. J. CULPIN,

Historical and Literary Analyses

MLR, I02.2, 2007 5II Descartes: dissimulation et ironie. By FERNANDHALLYN. (Titre Courant, 33) Geneva: Droz. 2oo6. 2I4PP. SwF28. ISBN 978-2-600-00535-7. There aremany references inDescartes's correspondence tohis desire not to expose his philosophy fully to his readers, and to avoid direct confrontation with various institutions by the cautious use of language; these justifyboth Hallyn's supposition that thereare various strategies of occultation inhis published textand the suggestion that theCartesian insistence on clarity is at odds with them.Descartes's famous early unpublished declaration 'larvatus prodeo' shows his intention to dissimulate and his commitment toworldly prudence; Francis Bacon, Baltasar Gracian, and Tommaso Accetto are earlymodern writers on these topicswho are used intertextuallybyHal lyn tostructure his investigations, togetherwith ancient rhetoricians, notably Hermo genes and Quintilian. Three levels ofoccultation-reserve (withholding information), dissimulation (stating thatone isnotwhat one is), and simulation (stating thatone is what one isnot)-are examined invarious ways through the rhetorical figuresof em phasis, equivocation, and hypocrisy; irony,here defined as saying not only something opposite towhat one means but also something other, is a feature of all three. These figures allow Descartes 'a se livrer au lecteur derriere un masque qui voile et decouvre a la fois' (p. 43), liftinghis text beyond the divide between truth and falsehood and turning it into a provocation or incitation for the attentive reader.One of the areas most profitably examined byHallyn is that of the relationship between philosophy and theology. He shows Descartes to be aware of the heresy of duplex veritas, and toclaim not only that the truthof his own physics isconsistent with faith, but also thathismetaphysics demonstrates thenature ofGod and the soul by purely philosophical means. Yet Descartes's comments on the physics of theEucharist and his proof of the existence of God are seen here to be marked by what Hallyn calls an 'ironie logique' (p. 148) ('la copresence devant la pensee de premisses ou de con clusions contraires ou contradictoires, entre lesquelles le choix s'avere quasiment impossible': p. I48). This is perhaps to stretch the rhetorical strategies of irony too far: it leads Hallyn to the conclusion that the 'morale par provision' of theDiscours was put thereby itsauthor toobviate the accusation of atheism, in so faras itnot only justifiespersistence in the religious practice ofone's childhood but also underpins the deistic argument that themetaphysical proof ofGod's existence is specific neither to a sect nor to a religion. Few readers ofDescartes would disagree thatDescartes does not spell out all he would wish to say,or hope that the readermight glean fromhis text,or engage in (sometimes spiteful) suppression of necessary information for its comprehension; what isnot so clear is whether themodes ofoblique expression which Hallyn's patient exposition reveals inCartesian writings are all related to an overrid ing rhetorical strategywhich can be extended as faras their logic. For all that, this is a subtle, lucid, and enjoyable study, ingeniously supported from thewhole range of Descartes's works, which will stimulate and enrich specialist and non-specialist alike. ALL SOULS COLLEGE,OXFORD IAN MACLEAN Dialogues posthumes sur lequietisme. By JEANDE LA BRUYERE and Louis-ELLIEs Du PIN. Ed. by RICHARD PARISH. (Collection Atopia) Grenoble: Millon. 2005. 246 PP. ?22. ISBN 978-2-84I37-I84-6. Previous editors of La Bruyere's works have differed in theirwillingness to attribute these texts to the author of Les Caracteres, Walckenaer (Paris: Didot, I845) voting contre,and Servois (Paris: Hachette, I865-82) votingpour. Richard Parish follows the editor of theYournal des savants, who, in theyear of their firstpublication (I 699), as serted thatLa Bruyere composed the firstseven dialogues and Ellies Du Pin the final 5I2 Reviews two.The present edition provides the reader not only with the textof the dialogues themselves, but also with the copious notes, attributed toEllies Du Pin: these use fullysituate thework within itsoriginal theological context by referringtoother texts which played a key role in the debate over Quietism stirred up byMadame Guyon. The Dialogues, which focus on the theological niceties of the controversy, were, on firstpublication, eclipsed by the greater interest then aroused by the public dispute on this subject which had broken out between Bossuet and Fenelon; subsequently theyhave received onlymodest critical attention...