Chapter 20 Author's Statement Regarding the Fifth Group of Rebuttals①

Before the first edition of the Meditations appeared, I thought of showing them to the sages of Solpenna and other scholars who would take the trouble to read them, in the hope of printing these objections with my replies. Coming out as a continuation of my Meditations, each group is arranged in the order in which they were [received], so that I shall make the truth more apparent.Moreover, although the rebuttals sent to me, which came in fifth in order, were not the most important to me and were too long, I printed them in their proper place, thinking that That way they would not offend their author, and I had the printed proofs shown to him, lest there be anything that displeased him.But since then he has written a great volume4, including his fifth set of rebuttals and several new rebuttals to my reply, where he complains that I shouldn't have published his rebuttals to me, As if I were doing this against his will, and said that he sent me those rebuttals only for my own sake, and that I would be more than happy to grant his wish that he should not appear in this book. rebuttal.That is why, knowing Mr. Clareser's tireless translation of the other objections, I begged him to cancel the fifth set of objections.In order that the reader may not be disappointed by the absence of these objections, I am obliged to inform them here that I have recently re-read them, and at the same time I have read all the new objections contained in this large volume. , for the purpose of extracting from here all the arguments which I think need to be answered; however, it is my opinion that those who finally understand the meaning of my Meditations cannot answer them without help from me. Arguments, I haven't found even one.As for those who judge a book by its thickness or its title, I do not expect their praise.

① This "Declaration" is neither in the Latin version nor in the second French edition. ② refers to the 1641 Latin version. ③It was an alias of "Paris Theological Seminary" at that time. ④ Title Disquisitiometa physica (metaphysical research), Latin, published in Amsterdam in 1644.