- First name
- Antoine
- Last name
- Arnauld
- Date of Birth
- 1612
- Date of Death
- 1694
- Born in
- Paris
- Died in
- Brussels
Antoine Arnauld studied theology at the Sorbonne. He was ceremonially stripped of his doctoral degree and condemned as a heretic for his attack (1656) on Jesuit casuistry (Théologie morale des Jésuites, Paris, 1643). He was the leader of the convent Port-Royal de Paris, and a fervent champion of Jansenism. Arnauld corresponded with Descartes and composed the fourth set of objections to the ‘Meditations’ (1641) at the invitation of Mersenne. He set forth his own personal version of Cartesianism in: Des vrais et fausses idées (1683). For Arnauld’s collected writings: Arnauld, 1775–83; id. 1964–7. See: DBF, vol. 3, pp. 859–67; DSB, vol. 1, pp. 291–2; BBK, vol. 1, cols 222–3; Nadler, 2008b.
According to Leibniz, Arnauld called Spinoza "the most impious and the most dangerous man of this century" because of his atheistic ideas. (cf. Leibniz to Ernst von Hessen-Rheinfels-Rotenburg, 4/14 August 1683; Leibniz, AA, 2:1, p. 841, no. 241). Furthermore, Du Cambout de Coislin in a letter to Johannes Baptista van Neercassel says that "Mr Arnauld has read the book of Spinosa [i.e. the Ethics most likely] of which he says that it is one of the most vilest books in the world. He has shown it to Mr de Condom with the directive to prevent by his power that it will not disseminate in France." (Orcibal, 1949, p. 463, Annex 9)