Letter of Dedication to the Sorbonne
E730636
The "Letter of Dedication to the Sorbonne" is René Descartes’ formal preface to his Meditations, addressed to the theologians of the University of Paris to defend and legitimize his philosophical project.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Letter of Dedication to the Sorbonne canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8399131 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Letter of Dedication to the Sorbonne Context triple: [Objections and Replies, hasComponent, Letter of Dedication to the Sorbonne]
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A.
Reportatio Parisiensis
Reportatio Parisiensis is a major theological and philosophical work consisting of John Duns Scotus’s reported lectures on Peter Lombard’s Sentences delivered at the University of Paris.
-
B.
Nouvelles de la République des Lettres
Nouvelles de la République des Lettres was a late 17th-century scholarly journal founded and edited by Pierre Bayle that became a key platform for critical reviews and intellectual exchange in early Enlightenment Europe.
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C.
Collège de ’Pataphysique
Collège de ’Pataphysique is a French avant-garde scholarly society devoted to the study and celebration of pataphysics, the absurdist “science of imaginary solutions” inspired by Alfred Jarry.
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D.
Epistle to a Lady
Epistle to a Lady is a verse essay by Alexander Pope that explores themes of female virtue, morality, and social conduct within his larger Moral Essays.
-
E.
Essai sur le don
Essai sur le don is a foundational anthropological and sociological essay by Marcel Mauss that analyzes gift-giving as a key system of social exchange and obligation in archaic societies.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Letter of Dedication to the Sorbonne Target entity description: The "Letter of Dedication to the Sorbonne" is René Descartes’ formal preface to his Meditations, addressed to the theologians of the University of Paris to defend and legitimize his philosophical project.
-
A.
Reportatio Parisiensis
Reportatio Parisiensis is a major theological and philosophical work consisting of John Duns Scotus’s reported lectures on Peter Lombard’s Sentences delivered at the University of Paris.
-
B.
Nouvelles de la République des Lettres
Nouvelles de la République des Lettres was a late 17th-century scholarly journal founded and edited by Pierre Bayle that became a key platform for critical reviews and intellectual exchange in early Enlightenment Europe.
-
C.
Collège de ’Pataphysique
Collège de ’Pataphysique is a French avant-garde scholarly society devoted to the study and celebration of pataphysics, the absurdist “science of imaginary solutions” inspired by Alfred Jarry.
-
D.
Epistle to a Lady
Epistle to a Lady is a verse essay by Alexander Pope that explores themes of female virtue, morality, and social conduct within his larger Moral Essays.
-
E.
Essai sur le don
Essai sur le don is a foundational anthropological and sociological essay by Marcel Mauss that analyzes gift-giving as a key system of social exchange and obligation in archaic societies.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
open letter
ⓘ
paratext ⓘ philosophical preface ⓘ |
| addressedTo |
Faculty of Theology of the University of Paris
ⓘ
theologians of the Sorbonne ⓘ |
| arguesThat |
clear and distinct ideas provide certainty
ⓘ
metaphysical demonstrations can support theology ⓘ proofs of God’s existence are beneficial to theology ⓘ |
| author | René Descartes ⓘ |
| circulation | printed at the front of the Meditations in early editions ⓘ |
| datePublished | 1641 ⓘ |
| dateWrittenApprox | 1640 ⓘ |
| functionInBook |
to frame the Meditations as orthodox and useful for theology
ⓘ
to introduce and recommend the Meditations ⓘ |
| genre |
philosophical prose
ⓘ
scholarly dedication ⓘ |
| hasForm | epistolary address ⓘ |
| historicalContext |
Catholic theological oversight of philosophy in 17th-century France
ⓘ
post-Reformation debates about faith and reason ⓘ |
| includedIn | first edition of Meditations on First Philosophy ⓘ |
| influencedField |
early modern philosophy
ⓘ
history of theology–philosophy relations ⓘ philosophy of religion ⓘ |
| language | Latin ⓘ |
| mainTheme |
certainty in matters of faith and reason
ⓘ
defense of metaphysics as foundational science ⓘ relationship between philosophy and theology ⓘ |
| mentionsConcept |
God
ⓘ
certainty ⓘ soul ⓘ |
| mentionsWork | Meditations on First Philosophy ⓘ |
| openingFormula | formal dedication to the most distinguished theologians of Paris ⓘ |
| partOfWork |
Meditationes de prima philosophia
ⓘ
linked to:
Meditations on First Philosophy
Meditations on First Philosophy ⓘ |
| placeOfPublication | Paris ⓘ |
| purpose |
to defend Descartes’ philosophical project
ⓘ
to legitimize the Meditations before theologians ⓘ to obtain ecclesiastical approval ⓘ to present metaphysical arguments as useful for theology ⓘ to show orthodoxy with Catholic doctrine ⓘ |
| relatedInstitution |
Sorbonne
ⓘ
linked to:
La Sorbonne
University of Paris ⓘ |
| relatedPerson | René Descartes ⓘ |
| relatedWork |
Objections and Replies to the Meditations
ⓘ
linked to:
Meditations on First Philosophy
|
| scholarlyReception |
studied as key to understanding Descartes’ theological strategy
ⓘ
used to interpret Descartes’ relation to Catholic orthodoxy ⓘ |
| workType | dedicatory epistle ⓘ |
| writtenBy | René Descartes ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Letter of Dedication to the Sorbonne Description of subject: The "Letter of Dedication to the Sorbonne" is René Descartes’ formal preface to his Meditations, addressed to the theologians of the University of Paris to defend and legitimize his philosophical project.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.