Gassendi the Atomist
Advocate of History in an Age of Science
Part of Ideas in Context
- Author: Lynn Sumida Joy
- Date Published: August 2002
- availability: Available
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521522397
Paperback
Other available formats:
eBook
Looking for an inspection copy?
This title is not currently available on inspection
-
Scholars in the early seventeenth century who studied ancient Greek scientific theories often drew upon philology and history to reconstruct a more general picture of the Greek past. Gassendi's training as a humanist historiographer enabled him to formulate a conception of the history of philosophy in which the rationality of scientific and philosophical inquiry depended on the historical justifications which he developed for his beliefs. Professor Joy examines this conception and analyzes the nature of Gassendi's historical training, especially its relationship to his career as a physicist and astronomer. She shows how he rehabilitated Epicurean atomism by bringing together the arguments of the Greek atomists and those of his contemporaries. In doing so, he produced an account of the natural world which made it an object of empirical study and mechanical explanation.
Customer reviews
Not yet reviewed
Be the first to review
Review was not posted due to profanity
×Product details
- Date Published: August 2002
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521522397
- length: 328 pages
- dimensions: 229 x 152 x 19 mm
- weight: 0.48kg
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
Preface
List of illustrations
Introduction
1. Other atomists, other skeptics, and other Epicureans: the problem of determining the context of Gassendi's career
Part I. Humanist Historiography:
2. Refuting Aristotle is not enough: how to acquire the skills of a French humanist
3. Gassendi's Life of Peiresc: the humanist's unattainable goal of writing a universal history
4. The growth of Gassendi's Epicurean project: from biography and commentary to a history of philosophy
Part II. Physics and the History of Philosophy:
5. Unrecognized cultural baggage: the incoherence of contemporary debates about atoms
6. Uncertainties of observation and explanation: the role of optical anomalies in astronomy
7. Skepticism is based on bad history: Gassendi interprets Epicurus' arguments concerning the existence and qualities of atoms
8. Epicurus' conception of proof and Gassendi's historical justification of an atomist metaphysics and physics
9. Between culture and nature: was Gassendi a historian, a scientist, an empiricist?
List of abbreviations used in the notes
Notes
Index of names.
Sorry, this resource is locked
Please register or sign in to request access. If you are having problems accessing these resources please email lecturers@cambridge.org
Register Sign in» Proceed
You are now leaving the Cambridge University Press website. Your eBook purchase and download will be completed by our partner www.ebooks.com. Please see the permission section of the www.ebooks.com catalogue page for details of the print & copy limits on our eBooks.
Continue ×Are you sure you want to delete your account?
This cannot be undone.
Thank you for your feedback which will help us improve our service.
If you requested a response, we will make sure to get back to you shortly.
×