Ideas, Mental Faculties and Method. The Logic of Ideas of Descartes and Locke and Its Reception in the Dutch Republic, 1630-1750

204 Pages·2003·21.74 MB·English

by  Paul Schuurman

BRILL'S STUDIES
IN
INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
General Editor
A.J. VANDERJAGT, University of Groningen
Editonal Board
M. COLISH, Oberlin College
J.I. ISRAEL, University College, London
J.D. NORTH, University of Groningen
R.H. POPKIN, Washington University, St. Louis-UCLA
VOLUME 125
KtG/
'68^>
IDEAS, MENTAL FACULTIES AND
METHOD
The logic of Ideas of Descartes and Locke and
Its Reception in the Dutch Republic, 1630-1750
PAUL SCHUURMAN
NtG/
'/68^ '
BRILL
LEIDEN · BOSTON
2004
On the cover:
John Locke by Sylvester Brownover. By courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
René Descartes, from an engraving after the portrait by Frans Hals. The Publisher has
done its best to establish the rights for the use of this illustration. Should any party feel that
its rights have been infringed we would be glad to hear from them.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ideas, mental faculties and method : the logic of ideas of Descartes and Locke and its
reception in the Dutch Republic, 1630-1750 / edited by Paul Schuurman.
p. cm. — (Brill's studies in intellectual history. ISSN 0920-8607 ; v. 125)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-13716-5 (hard)
1. Descartes, René, 1596-1650. 2. Locke, John, 1632-1704. 3. Logic, Modern—17th
century. I. Schuurman, Paul. II. Series.
B1875.134 2003
160'.9'032—dc22
2003065287
ISSN 0920-8607
ISBN 90 04 13716 5
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For Leon and Dennis Schuurman

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface xi
Abbreviations xiii
Chapter One Introduction ι
Chapter Two The Logic of Ideas 4
2.1. Locke: Ideas, Faculties and Method 4
2.2. Robert Sanderson: an Aristotelian Predecessor 11
2.3. Locke's Cartesianism 16
2.4. Descartes and Locke: Clarity and Distinctness 19
2.5. Descartes and Locke: Rationalism and Empiricism ... 26
Chapter Three Structure of the New Logic 34
3.1. Arnauld's Hybrid Logic 34
3.2. Malebranche 's 'Facultative' Logic 44
3.3. Locke's Two-Stage Logic 50
3.4. Conclusion 55
Chapter Four The Dutch Context 56
4.1. Introduction 56
4.2. Books, Journals and Universities 56
4.3. Aristotelianism 5g
4.4. Cartesianism 61
4.5. Empiricism 65
4.6. Conclusion 68
Chapter Five Jean le Clerc: Lockean Empiricism in Textbook
Format ( 1692) 70
5.1. Introduction 70
5.2. Le Clerc and Locke 71
5.3. Structure 75
5.4. Ideas 77
5.5.Judgements 81
5.6. Method 82
5.7. Conclusion 87
VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Six Jean-Pierre de Crousaz: Accommodation
between Old and New Logic (1725) 89
6.1. Introduction 89
6.2. Structure and Outline 92
6.3. Faculties 96
6.4. Objects 99
6.5. Ideas and Sensations 102
6.6. Propositions: Mental and Verbal 104
6.7. Syllogisms 106
6.8. Two Methods 107
6.9. Conclusion 109
Chapter Seven Nicolaus Engelhard's Wolffianism (1732) 110
7.1. Introduction 110
7.2. Structure 112
7.3. Leibniz-Wolffian Logic 114
7.4. Engelhard's Wolffianism 121
7.5. Differences between Engelhard and Wolff 125
7.6. Conclusion 127
Chapter Eight Willem Jacob 's Gravesande's Philosophical
Defence of Newtonianism ( 1736) 129
8.1. Introduction 129
8.2. The Introductio: Metaphysics and Logic 131
8.3. Structure 133
8.4. Ideas, Judgements and Propositions 135
8.5. Problems for a Lockean Defence of Newtonian Physics 137
8.6. 's Gravesande's Solution 141
8.7. Error 148
8.8. Method 150
8.9. Conclusion 155
Chapter Nine Petrus van Musschenbroek: Logic and Natural
Science Part Ways ( 1748) 156
9.1. Introduction 156
9.2. Structure and Outline 157
9.3. Ideas 160
9.4. Mental and Verbal Propositions 162
9.5. Syllogisms 163
9.6. Conclusion 164
Chapter Ten Conclusion: Dutch Eclectic Logic, 1690-1750 165
TABLE OF CONTENTS IX
Bibliography 171
Index of names 189

PREFACE
In the first three chapters of the present study I discuss the content
and structure of the logic of ideas, which emerged in the seventeenth
century as an alternative to Aristotelian logic. I pay special attention
to René Descartes and John Locke, but I consider the substantial
contributions made by Antoine Arnauld and Nicolas Malebranche
as well. Chapters 1-3 are partly new and partly based on the 'Gen
eral Introduction' to my edition of Locke's Of the Conduct of the
Understanding'. Parts of this introduction were used for two articles,
'Locke's Logic of Ideas in Context: Content and Structure', Bntish
Journal for the History of Philosophy 9 (2001) 439-465 and 'Locke's
Way of Ideas as Context for his Theory of Education in Of the Con
duct of Understanding', History of European Ideas 27 (2001) 45-59. In
chapter 4 I turn to the Dutch context of the logic of ideas; some of
the issues confronted in this chapter were also addressed in 'Locke
and the Dutch: a Preliminary Survey', Geschiedenis van de Wijsbegeerte
in Nederland 11 (2000) 119-140. In chapters 5-9 I discuss the recep
tion of the logic of ideas in five logical textbooks produced in the
Dutch Republic between 1690 and 1750. Chapter 5, on Jean le Clerc,
draws on a paper presented at an Arbeitsgespräch on 'The Early Dutch
Enlightenment, 1650-1750, in its European Context' (Wolfenbüt
tel, 21-23 March 2001 ), published as 'The Empiricist Logic of Ideas
of Jean le Clerc', in: Wiep van Bunge, ed. The Early Enlightenment in
the Dutch Republic, 1650-1750 (Leiden: Brill, 2003) 137-153, while
chapter 8, on 's Gravesande, is partly based on a paper, 'Willem Jacob
's Gravesande's philosophical defence of Newtonian Physics: on the
various uses of Locke', presented at the conference 'New work on
the philosophy of John Locke' (Sydney, 9-11 July 2001), published
under the same title in Peter Anstey, ed. The Philosophy of John Locke.
New Perspectives (London: Routledge, 2003) 43-57.
I have written this book as a research fellow at the Department of
Philosophy of the Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, as the first of sev
eral studies that will appear in a research programme sponsered by
NWO (Nederlands Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek), The Early Enlight
enment in the Dutch Republic: Cartesianism, Spinozism, and Empincism,
1650—1750, under the excellent supervision of Wiep van Bunge,