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Descartes, René

Additional Reading > Life
Basic biographical sources are Descartes's own works and letters. Adrien Baillet, La Vie de Monsieur Des-Cartes, 2 vol. (1691, reprinted 1987), is the major source, notwithstanding Baillet's apologetic bias and his fanciful embroidering of tales. Charles Adam, Vie & oeuvres de Descartes: étude historique (1910); Gustave Cohen, Écrivains français en Hollande dans la première moitié du XVIIe siècle (1920, reprinted 1976); and J. Sirven, Les Années d'apprentissage de Descartes, 1596–1628 (1928, reprinted 1987), are based on extensive original research. Also noteworthy are Cornelia Serrurier, Descartes: l'homme et le penseur (1951; originally published in Dutch, 1930); Jonathan Rée, Descartes (1974); Leon Pearl, Descartes (1977); and Geneviève Rodis-Lewis, Descartes: His Life and Thought (1998; originally published in French, 1995). Two other biographical works, published since Sirven and also based on extensive original research, are John R. Cole, The Olympian Dreams and Youthful Rebellion of René Descartes (1992); and Richard A. Watson, Cogito ergo Sum: The Life of René Descartes (2002).

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