Gassendi and the English mechanical philosophers / Antonio Clericuzio.
Abstract:
Recent research has paid increasing attention to the variety of versions of the mechanical philosophy, showing that it is not to be regarded as a single and homogeneous philosophical approach to the investigation of natural phenomena. The mechanical philosophers disagreed on crucial topics, as the divisibility of matter, the origin of motion, the existence of void, the role of final causes, the reductionist approach to the study of natural phenomena. The reception of Gassendi's theory of matter in England sheds light on the different types of mechanical philosophy that flourished in the second half of the 17th century. Gassendi's moderate mechanism and his combination of atomism with empiricism were responsible for the rapid and widespread diffusion of his ideas in England. Natural philosophers who rejected speculative approaches and stressed the importance of observations and experiments found Gassendi's philosophy congenial to their views. Boyle opposed philosophical systems since they would hinder the growth of knowledge. Walter Charleton and Robert Boyle adopted a relevant feature of Gassendì‰s theory of matter, notably the hierarchy of corpuscles. Like Gassendi, Boyle did not endorse the reductionist approach to the investigation of natural phenomena like Descartes' and Hobbes'. Boyle maintained that naturalists could profitably employ intermediate theories, i.e., explanations of natural phenomena not resorting to the ultimate constituents of bodies.
Atoms and light in the XVIIth century. p. 3-29