In Chapter 1, I started with the royal decree to the University of Paris in 1671 that triggered the official French campaign against Cartesianism. As indicated there, this campaign initially emphasized the difficulties of reconciling Descartes's physics with Church teachings concerning the Eucharist. In this chapter, I begin with the second stage of this campaign, which is marked by another royal decree to the University of Paris, this one in 1691, requiring the philosophy professors to sign an anti-Cartesian formulary. This formulary contains only the most oblique reference to the issue of the Eucharist, highlighting instead a Cartesian epistemology that emphasizes the method of doubt and the need for clear and distinct ideas.

In §5.1, I begin with a consideration of the anti-Cartesian formulary at the University of Paris. Though this formulary is presented as a censure imposed from without of views found within the university, it most likely was compiled by a disgruntled member (or members) of the university who drew for the most part on sources from outside of the academy. One of the main issues raised in the formulary concerns the conflict of Descartes's method of doubt with the requirements of faith. The emphasis both on Cartesian method and on the relation between faith and reason bespeaks the influence of the 1689 Censura philosophiæ cartesianæ of the skeptic Pierre-Daniel Huet.