Abstract
My thesis is that Descartes wrote the Discours as a plan for a universal
science, as he originally entitled it. I provide an interpretation of his letters that
suggests that after Descartes began drafting his Dioptrics, he started developing a
system that incorporated his early treatises from the 1630s: Les Méteores, Le
Monde, L’Homme, and his 1629 Traité de métaphysique. I argue against the mosaic
and autobiographic interpretations that claim these were independent treatises
or stages in Descartes’ life. Rather, I hold that threat of condemnation concerning
his heliocentric thesis resulted in him suppressing his larger project and, instead,
he published a plan where he outlined his ongoing system of philosophy.