 Interpreting the philosophy of Mademoiselle de Scudéry requires certain cautions. First, a lifelong disciple of Montaigne, Scudéry repeatedly expresses skepticism concerning the enterprise of philosophy itself. The disputes of philosophical schools often appear to be nothing more than a Babel of discordant authorities. Despite the furor, no definitive solution to philosophical disputes can impose itself. The contemporary dispute over Descartes’s theory of vortices illustrates the obscure, endless controversies generated by philosophical pride. 