Dutch Cartesianism and the Birth of Philosophy of Science

258 Pages·2019·1.942 MB·English

by  Andrea Strazzon

Andrea Strazzoni
Dutch Cartesianism and the Birth of Philosophy of Science

Andrea Strazzoni
Dutch Cartesianism
and the Birth of
Philosophy of Science
From Regius to ’s Gravesande
ISBN 978-3-11-056782-3
e-ISBN [PDF] 978-3-11-056969-8
e-ISBN [EPUB] 978-3-11-056862-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Strazzoni, Andrea, author.
Title: Dutch Cartesianism and the birth of philosophy of science : from
Regius to ’s Gravesande / Andrea Strazzoni.
Description: 1 [edition]. | Boston : De Gruyter, 2018. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018030843 (print) | LCCN 2018033611 (ebook) | ISBN
9783110569698 (electronic Portable Document Format (pdf) | ISBN
9783110567823 (print : alk. paper) | ISBN 9783110569698 (e-book pdf) |
ISBN 9783110568264 (e-book epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Descartes, Rene, 1596-1650. | Logic. | Metaphysics. |
Science--Philosophy--History.
Classification: LCC B1875 (ebook) | LCC B1875 .S88 2018 (print) | DDC
199/.492--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018030843
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Typesetting: Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd.
Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck
Cover image: Hendrick van der Burgh, The conferring of a degree at the University of Leiden
around 1650. WikimediaCommons, Public Domain.
www.degruyter.com
Acknowledgments
The preparation of this book began during my time as a doctoral student at the
Erasmus University Rotterdam, between 2010 and 2015, and continued during my
stays at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow), the University of Parma, and
the Gotha Research Centre of the University of Erfurt. At the Erasmus University I
conducted a substantial part of the research that led both to the completion of my
doctoral dissertation, and then to the preparation of this book. I want therefore
to thank Wiep van Bunge, Henri Krop, Han van Ruler, and Paul Schuurman who
supported, helped and guided me in the essential part of my survey, as well as
Christoph Lüthy and Theo Verbeek for their comments on my work. I also want to
thank Stefan Heßbrüggen-Walter for his suggestions, and, with Darya Drozdova,
for his hospitality at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. In Parma (where
I first approached the theme of Dutch Cartesianism during my undergraduate
studies), I had the decisive support of Fabrizio Amerini, Stefano Caroti, Beatrice
Centi, Roberto Pinzani, Mariafranca Spallanzani and Andrea Staiti. Eventually,
the completion of this book was made possible by my post-doctoral scholarships1
at the Gotha Research Centre, where I benefitted from the help and support of
Martin Mulsow and Markus Meumann. Moreover, this book would not have been
made possible without the fruitful conversations which I had, across Europe and
beyond, with Igor Agostini, Siegrid Agostini, Vlad Alexandrescu, Érico Andrade,
Peter Anstey, Delphine Antoine-Mahut, Roger Ariew, Fabrizio Baldassarri,
Susanne Beiweis, Giulia Belgioioso, Jip van Besouw, Paul Richard Blum, Carlo
Borghero, Erik-Jan Bos, Steven Vanden Broecke, Chiara Catalano, Andrea Cimino,
Sorana Corneanu, Hannah Dawson, Adela Deanova, Antonella Del Prete, Giuli-
ana Di Biase, Mihnea Dobre, Steffen Ducheyne, Marco Forlivesi, Daniel Garber,
Alfredo Gatto, Benedino Gemelli, Guido Giglioni, Aza Goudriaan, Dana Jalobe-
anu, Martin Lenz, Brunello Lotti, Gideon Manning, Oana Matei, Dirk van Miert,
Alberto Oliva, Riccardo Pozzo, Evan Ragland, Andrea Robiglio, Sophie Roux,
Andrea Sangiacomo, Tad Schmaltz, Marco Sgarbi, Marco Storni, and Riccarda
Suitner. Last but not least, I would like to thank Christoph Schirmer for his inter-
est in the manuscript, and for his constant dedication to the editorial processes of
peer-review and approval for publication.
1 Herzog-Ernst-Stipendium der Fritz Thyssen Stiftung; Christoph-Martin-Wieland-Postdoc-
Stipendium.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110569698-201

Contents
Acknowledgments   V
Introduction   1
1 The quest for a foundation in early modern philosophy:
A historical-historiographical overview   8
1.1 HPS, &HPS, HOPOS (and history of philosophy)   8
1.2 Descartes’s foundationalism: A historiographical appraisal   11
1.3 From foundation to philosophy of science: Leading problems   18
2 The ‘crisis’ of foundationalism: Regius and Descartes   23
2.1 Regius and the Utrecht Crisis (1641)   23
2.2 A medical standpoint on philosophy   26
2.3 Regius’s clash with Descartes   29
2.4 Medicine and the method of natural philosophy   34
2.5 The necessity of a foundation?   38
3 Cartesianism as the Philosophy of the School: Logic, metaphysics, and
rational theology   39
3.1 Critiques and replies   39
3.1.1 The critiques of Descartes   42
3.1.2 The co-ordinated strategy of defence of Cartesianism   45
3.2 Logic as introduction to Cartesian philosophy: Clauberg’s Defensio
cartesiana and Logica vetus et nova   51
3.3 Metaphysics and natural theology in the foundation of philosophy
and arts   55
3.4 The ‘re-duplication’ of metaphysics and the birth of ontology   64
4 Dutch Cartesianism in the 1650s and 1660s: Philosophy, theology, and
ethics   69
4.1 Cartesianism in Leiden in the 1650s: Physics without
metaphysics   69
4.2 Philosophy, theology, and ethics (and the separation thesis)   72
4.3 Cartesianism and rational ethics: Geulincx between Reformed
theology and Spinozism   76
4.3.1 The architectonic of philosophy   78
VIII   Contents
4.4 Geulincx’s threefold metaphysics: Autology, somatology, and
theology   83
4.4.1 An Aristotelian axiom   85
4.4.2 The body   88
4.4.3 The freedom of God   92
4.5 The foundation of experience and intellectual evidence   97
4.5.1 The hierarchy of knowledge   100
4.6 Physics de-metaphysicised   104
5 Foundationalism confronting radical Cartesianism around 1670   105
5.1 The ‘misuse’ and ‘corruption’ of Cartesianism   105
5.2 De Raey’s foundation of scientific knowledge: Logic as
metaphysics   112
5.2.1 The intersections of logic and metaphysics in early modern
philosophy   114
5.3 The developments of De Raey’s logic   119
5.3.1 A bifurcation in the academic curriculum   123
6 Bridging scientia and experience: the last evolution of Cartesian
foundationalism   126
6.1 Late Cartesianism in Leiden and Amsterdam   126
6.2 Burchard de Volder’s ‘Cartesian empiricism’   127
6.2.1 From Descartes to De Volder: Iatrochemistry in Leiden   130
6.2.2 Experimental teaching in Leiden: De Volder and Senguerd   132
6.2.3 From Cartesianism to Newtonianism   135
6.3 The quest for principles: philosophy of science without
a foundation   142
6.4 The foundation of the principles of nature: A vindication of
Descartes’s metaphysics   148
6.5 Foundation and philosophy of science go separate ways: De Volder
and De Raey   157
6.6 Philosophy of language as philosophy of science: De Raey’s Cogitata
de interpretatione   159
6.6.1 A novelty in the philosophical reflections on language   159
6.6.2 The realm of sensibility   165
6.6.3 Intellectual ideas and modi considerandi   167
6.7 Dutch Cartesian philosophy at the turn of the century   169