Pierre Gassendi and the Birth of Early Modern Philosophy

Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Preface......Page 9
References to Gassendi\'s Works......Page 11
Introduction......Page 13
1 Gassendi\'s Life and Times......Page 19
The Epicurus Project......Page 32
Galileo and the Question of Copernicanism......Page 36
2 Gassendi\'s Philosophical Opponents......Page 46
Scholastic Aristotelianism......Page 48
Neo-Platonism and the Anima Mundi......Page 56
Descartes and the Meditations......Page 66
3 Skepticism, Perception, and the Truth of the Appearances......Page 72
Gassendi and the Pyrrhonians......Page 74
Reconstructing Epicurean Canonic......Page 76
The Theory of Vision......Page 81
The Objects of Perception......Page 88
4 Cognition, Knowledge, and the Theory of Signs......Page 95
The Origin of Ideas......Page 96
The Quality of Ideas......Page 100
Syllogistic Reasoning......Page 104
Reasoning and the Theory of Signs......Page 106
Space, Place, and Vacuum......Page 112
The Ontology of Space......Page 118
Absolute Space and the Extra-mundane Void......Page 121
The Interstitial Vacuum......Page 124
The Coacervate Void......Page 127
Space and God......Page 131
Time......Page 136
The World......Page 139
6 Atoms and Causes......Page 142
Varieties of Atomism......Page 145
Gassendian Atoms......Page 150
The Weight of Atoms and Their Causal Powers......Page 152
Conservation and Concurrence......Page 157
The Conservation of vis motrix and Atomic Motion......Page 161
7 Bodies and Motion......Page 165
Composite Bodies......Page 166
Texture......Page 169
Natural and Violent Motion......Page 170
Gravity......Page 172
The Textural Explanation of Occult Qualities......Page 179
Motion in Free Fall......Page 181
Uniform and Perpetual Motion......Page 186
Atomic Motion and the Motion of Composite Bodies......Page 192
8 Generation, Life, and the Corporeal Soul......Page 195
The Powers of Souls......Page 196
The Powers of Seeds......Page 198
The Generation of Plants......Page 201
The Generation of Animals......Page 205
The Probability and Significance of Seminal Explanations......Page 211
The Corporeal Soul......Page 214
9 The Metaphysics of Body......Page 220
The Role of Substance......Page 222
Essences or Natures......Page 225
Qualities......Page 229
10 Faith, Reason, and the Immaterial Soul......Page 239
The Immaterial Soul in the Disquisitio......Page 240
The Immaterial Soul in the Syntagma......Page 245
The Immaterial Soul and the Body......Page 249
Knowledge of God......Page 251
Faith and Reason......Page 256
I. Gassendi’s Works......Page 265
II. Other Primary Sources......Page 266
III. Secondary Sources......Page 271
Index......Page 285