Meditations on First Philosophy

First Latin edition of Descartes's Meditations published in Paris

The first edition arrived with its own opposition printed inside it: six sets of objections, and Descartes's replies to each.

Paris, late August 1641

Michel Soly published René Descartes's first Latin edition of Meditationes de prima philosophia in Paris in late August 1641. No secure day of publication has been established.

The printed volume contained six Meditations together with six sets of objections from readers and Descartes's replies to them.

A debate, printed

That format made the publication itself a staged philosophical argument, with objections from figures including Thomas Hobbes, Pierre Gassendi, and Antoine Arnauld. Marin Mersenne had circulated the manuscript, collected the criticisms, and helped arrange publication.

The volume was addressed to the dean and doctors of the Paris Faculty of Theology, from whom Descartes sought correction, protection, and public endorsement.

A title promising more than the book delivers

The title page announced demonstrations of God's existence and of the soul's immortality. The six meditations do not in fact present a proof of immortality — the 1642 title substituted the real distinction of mind and body.

Descartes was unhappy enough with the printer's errors to begin work almost immediately on a corrected edition, published at Amsterdam in January 1642.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited Date corrected

How this was checked

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Date corrected. The research places this at ~1641-08.

What the sources leave uncertain

The year and late-August window are supported by the scholarly Oxford edition consulted, but no securely sourced day of publication was found; the ISO date is therefore approximate.