The philosophy of Pierre Gassendi : science and belief in seventeenth-century Paris and Provence
This is a multi-disciplinary study which examines the life and thought of Pierre Gassendi as a whole and in the context of seventeenthcentury Paris and Provence. There are sections on the political, religious and social fabric of Provence, on the Catholic Church and on Gassendi's view of his clerical function, on Absolute Monarchy and his intimate involvement with the theory and practice of politics. The justification for the sheer weight of minute investigative detail used in the historical side of this inquiry is that the printed texts of Gassendi, and of most of his circle, cannot be properly evaluated without this sort of inside knowledge of the circumstances in which they were written. One fruit of this method is the discovery that Gassendi was devoloping in almost total secrecy, from as early as 1618, his own Copernican physics, which in many ways must be regarded as a prototype of that deployed seventy years later in the PRINCIPIA. Evidence to support this argument is in the sections on the Galley Experiment of 1640, Gravitation, Atomism and Astronomy. It is the extent of Gassendi's co-operation with mathematicians, astronomers and scientists, and the fact that most of them must have shared the secret
Makin, William Edward Anselm
Philosophy
The philosophy of Pierre Gassendi : science and belief in seventeenth-century Paris and Provence. This is a multi-disciplinary study which examines the life and thought of Pierre Gassendi as a whole and in the context of seventeenthcentury Paris and Provence. There are sections on the political, religious and social fabric of Provence, on the Catholic Church and on Gassendi's view of his clerical function, on Absolute Monarchy and his intimate involvement with the theory and practice of politics. The justification for the sheer weight of minute investigative detail used in the historical side of this inquiry is that the printed texts of Gassendi, and of most of his circle, cannot be properly evaluated without this sort of inside knowledge of the circumstances in which they were written. One fruit of this method is the discovery that Gassendi was devoloping in almost total secrecy, from as early as 1618, his own Copernican physics, which in many ways must be regarded as a prototype of that deployed seventy years later in the PRINCIPIA. Evidence to support this argument is in the sections on the Galley Experiment of 1640, Gravitation, Atomism and Astronomy. It is the extent of Gassendi's co-operation with mathematicians, astronomers and scientists, and the fact that most of them must have shared the secret
philosophy science belief seventeenth_century paris multi_disciplinary study_examines life think whole context paris section political_religious social fabric catholic church view clerical function absolute monarchy intimate involvement theory_practice politics justification sheer weight minute investigative detail use historical side inquiry print texts circle properly evaluate without sort inside knowledge circumstance write fruit method discovery almost total secrecy early physic many_way must regard prototype deploy evidence_support argument section atomism astronomy extent operation mathematician scientist fact must share secret