David Gorlaeus (1591-1612): An Enigmatic Figure in the History of Philosophy and Science

227 Pages·2013·3.04 MB·English

by  Christoph Lüthy

CHRISTOPH LÜTHY
David Gorlæus
(1591-1612)
An Enigmatic Figure in the
History of Philosophy and Science
Amsterdam University Press
David Gorlæus (1591-1612)

David Gorlæus
(1591-1612)
An Enigmatic Figure in the
History of Philosophy and Science
Christoph Lüthy
Amsterdam University Press
The publication of this book is made possible by a grant from the J.E. Jurriaanse
Foundation, the Evert Willem Beth Foundation, the Foundation Sormani Fund,
the M.A.O.C. Gravin van Bylandt Foundation, the Douwe Kalma Stifting, and
the OAPEN Foundation.
This book is published in print and online through the online OAPEN library
(www.oapen.org). OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks) is
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The OAPEN Library aims to improve the visibility and usability of high quality
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Cover illustration: Head of a young man. Detail from the tomb of David Gorlaeus
in Cornjum (see page 13, fig. 1) (Photograph by Klaas Tijdsma)
Cover design: Kok Korpershoek, Amsterdam
Lay-out: Heymans & Vanhove, Goes
isbn 978 90 8964 438 1
e-isbn 978 90 4851 680 3 (pdf)
e-isbn 978 90 4851 681 0 (ePub)
nur 680/685
© C. H. Lüthy / Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam 2012
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part
of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or trans-
mitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of
the book.
Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustrations re-
produced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is
advised to contact the publisher.
Table of Contents
Preface 7
Chapter 1 Introducing Gorlæus 11
1.1. The Tomb 12
1.2. Gorlaeus in the Historiography of Philosophy 14
1.3. Gorlaeus in the Historiography of Science 18
Chapter 2 Gorlæus’ Two Treatises 25
2.1. Method of Presentation 25
2.2. A Description of Gorlaeus’ Two Works 29
2.3. Ontology as “First or Universal Philosophy” 35
2.4. Gorlaeus’ Physical Atomism 43
2.5. A Brief Appraisal 56
Chapter 3 Gorlæus’ Life 61
3.1. Gorlaeus’ Family Background 62
3.2. Gorlaeus’ Youth 69
3.3. Gorlaeus at Franeker University 71
3.4. Henricus de Veno’s Secrets 74
3.5. Henricus de Veno’s Teaching 83
3.6. Gorlaeus’ Debt to De Veno, Cardano and Scaliger 93
3.7. Gorlaeus at Leiden 97
3.8. Jacob Arminius and the Beginning 104
of the Arminian Controversy
3.9. The Vorstius Affair 113
3.10. The Link between Vorstius’ De Deo
and Gorlaeus’ Exercitationes 119
3.11. Nicolaus Taurellus’ Influence on Vorstius
and Gorlaeus 122
3.12. Gorlaeus’ Contribution to Philosophy 130
5
Chapter 4 Gorlæus’ Place in the History of Seventeenth-Century
Thought 133
4.1. International Responses to Gorlaeus:
The Parisian Case 134
4.2. Dutch Responses to Gorlaeus and the Rise
of Cartesianism 139
4.3. Gorlaeus Forgotten and Rediscovered:
A Conclusion 153
Notes 163
Bibliography 195
Index 217
6
Preface
I came across the name of David Gorlaeus for the first time while working on
my doctoral dissertation on seventeenth-century matter theory in the early 1990s.
The dazzling diversity of the authors who pleaded for the existence of atoms in
the period 1590-1630 puzzled me greatly as I could find neither a coherent pat-
tern nor an overarching concern in the various antiquarian, historical, theological,
metaphysical, physical, alchemical and microscopic reasons that they offered. In
a number of publications I have since examined a range of particularly puzzling
figures or types of argumentation in favor of the existence of atoms. When life’s
circumstances took me to the Netherlands, where I have settled, I could not avoid
turning my attention to David Gorlaeus, who seemed to me a particularly elusive
figure. After all, very little was known about his life, and his ideas were particularly
hard to place as they mixed metaphysics and natural philosophy in a markedly
unusual way and in unexpected moments added observations taken from the fields
of astronomy, optics and chemistry. When I read that the author had passed away
at age 21, and that he was moreover starting out as a theology student and was not
a person engaged in empirical research, my initial curiosity increased even further,
turning into a detective’s quest for the reconstruction of the circumstances that
led to an inexplicable fact. The more I searched, the more I became convinced
that Gorlaeus was an unusually talented thinker of extraordinary originality and
maturity, notably when one considered the young age at which he wrote his works.
In fact, I remain persuaded that his philosophical synthesis renders him one of the
early seventeenth century’s most brilliant Dutch intellects. Had he been granted
more years to live and the chance to develop his thoughts further, so I now imag-
ine, he might well have become as radical and famous a thinker as Spinoza. Al-
though such counterfactual musings do not belong to the historian’s task, they do
in this particular case explain one of the main emotional reasons for investigating
the short life of this talented thinker.
Some of my findings concerning Gorlaeus have been published before, but in
places that are not easily accessible. When it was decided to organize an academic
celebration on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Gorlaeus’ death, to be held
in Cornjum on 27 April 2012, it was pointed out to me that in the absence of any
preface 7
monographic study of this thinker, it would be difficult to persuade the larger
public of the status that I wished to claim for my young thinker. This justified
observation has led me to write down everything I have so far managed to uncover
about the life, circumstances and thoughts of David Gorlaeus. I realize of course
that much remains to be found, in manuscript and published sources, about his
family, personal circumstances and impact on the evolution of seventeenth-cen-
tury philosophy and science. For this reason, the present book cannot offer more
than a provisional account and is written in the hope that the story told here will
inspire other historians of philosophy, science and theology to take over where I
have left off.
It gives me great pleasure to thank a number of persons who have helped me in
this enterprise. The long section on Gorlaeus’ teacher Henricus de Veno has bene-
fitted enormously from the contribution of Leen Spruit, who found De Veno’s
inquisitorial acts in the Vatican. Arjen Dijkstra has joined me in the hunt for Gor-
laeus’ Frisian circumstances; a profound expert on early modern Friesland, he has
uncovered a number of important facts, texts, and connections that I am pleased
to acknowledge in the relevant passages. Gerben Wierda, a formidable archival
hunter, has contributed considerably to my attempts to reconstruct Gorlaeus’ fam-
ily circumstances. Once again, whatever I owe to him is gratefully acknowledged
in the footnotes. My research on Gorlaeus has also benefitted from the expert ad-
vice of Sander de Boer, Theo Bögels, Erik-Jan Bos, Jos van den Broek, Robin Bun-
ing, Davide Cellamare, Paul Dijstelberge, Martin Engels, Paul Hoftijzer, Ulrich
G. Leinsle, Ferenc Postma, Jarich Renema, Jacob van Sluis, Jaap van der Veen and
Huib Zuidervaart, all of whom I would like to thank most emphatically.
I am particularly grateful to four extremely knowledgeable experts in the his-
tory of Dutch philosophy and science, who have carefully examined the final draft
of this book: Klaas van Berkel, Theo Verbeek, Han van Ruler and Chungling
Kwa have contributed to a substantial improvement of my account. Amsterdam
University Press, and notably Anniek Meinders and Maaike Groot, deserve to be
praised here for the competent way in which they accompanied me in the pro-
duction of this book. I should furthermore like to thank Thomas Swann for his
excellent editorial work. I am also grateful to Brill Academic Publishers and the
Renaissance Quarterly for allowing me to reproduce passages from earlier publica-
tions on Gorlaeus and De Veno.
Finally, I must thank the two organizations that have sponsored my research.
Ten years ago, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)
provided me with a luxurious fellowship that allowed me to carry out my initial
investigations into Gorlaeus. Thereafter, I was able to conduct most of my research
within a programme sponsored by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific
8 david gorlæus (1591-1612)
Research (NWO). In these times of shrinking research budgets, such generous
donors deserve to be mentioned with particular gratitude.
I dedicate this book to Carla Rita Palmerino, with whom I enthusiastically
share a home, a university office and thus my entire life, and to our two boys,
Tommaso and Filippo, who are growing up far too quickly.
preface 9