| Authorship Notes |
The 87th conference of Théophraste Renaudot's 'Bureau d'adresse', held on on the 3rd August 1635, had two topics: 1. Whether the immortality of the soul can be demonstrated by natural reasons 2. Whether travels are necessary to a honest man. The conferences were published almost two decades later, by Renaudot's son, Eusèbe. The identity of the five participants of the debate remains unknown.
The complexity of the opinions for and against travel presented shows well the mixed opinions on travel in 17th-century France.
Positive opinions quote the knowledge that could be gained from travelling, as well as the preference of the human mind and soul for action against inaction, a theme already mentioned by Justus Lipsius. The anti-travel contributors argue that human life is too short to gain truly in-depth knowledge through travels, and remind us of the lurking moral and physical dangers. The last contribution suggests that one could be wise at the expense of others, and leave the burden of travelling to others, and benefit from the few useful elements that could be gathered from someone else's account of their travels. The account of the debate concludes with this same idea of benefitting vicariously from other travellers’ foreign wanderings.
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