- 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, Cartesianism, Chymistry, Early Modern Science, Descartes, René, Early Modern Science and Philosophy, and 94 moreRohault, History of Science, Early Modern Philosophy, History of Medicine, Bacon, Francis, Early Modern Intellectual History, 17th- and 18th-century Philosophy, History of Philosophy of Science, René Descartes (in Philosophy/History Of Philosophy/17th Century Early Modern Philosophy), Dutch Cartesianism, History of Experimentation, Cartésianismes Et Leurs Réceptions, 18th Century Philosophy, Early Modern History, History of Religion, Intellectual History, Philosophy of Science, Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, History of Atomism, Renaissance Aristotelianism, Renaissance Philosophy, History of Astronomy, Science and Religion, History of Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, History of Chemistry, History and Philosophy of Chemistry, Early Modern Intellectual History and the History of Ideas, Alchemy, Esotericism, History of Astrology, History of scientific instruments, History of Historiography, History of Universities, 17th-Century Studies, Descartes, Philosophy of Physics, Sociology Of Scientific Knowledge, Early Modern Era, Natural Magic, Historiography of philosophy, Renaissance Studies, Historiography, European History, Renaissance Cosmology, Biblical Studies, Medieval Philosophy, Philosophy, Intellectual History of the Renaissance, Philosophy of Biology, History and Philosophy of Biology, Intellectual History of Enlightenment, Eighteenth Century History, Early Modern Europe, History of Natural History, History of Science and Technology, Digital Humanities, Knowledge sharing, History of the Book, History, Manuscripts and Early Printed Books, Jesuit history, Humanities, History of Science and Religion, Religious Studies, Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, Francis Bacon, Early Modern Globalization, Cultural History, Early Modern Literature, History of Mentalities, History of Cartography, Natural History, Early Modern print culture, 16th century Europe, Medieval Cartography, Renaissance Cartography, Metaphysics, Theology, Epistemology, Spinoza, Benedict de Spinoza, History Of Modern Philosophy, Republic of Letters (Early Modern History), Early Modern France, History of Ideas, Leibniz, Malebranche, Jewish Philosophy, Samuel Hartlib, Cambridge Platonism, Christian Kabbalah, and Open scienceedit
- I am teaching and doing research at the University of Bucharest. I have a PhD in philosophy (Radboud University Nijme... moreI am teaching and doing research at the University of Bucharest. I have a PhD in philosophy (Radboud University Nijmegen and University of Bucharest), and my research focus is in the history of philosophy and science; in particular on the relations between philosophy, science, and religion in the early modern period. I am also interested in new scholarly approaches (Digital Humanities) and different ways of communication and dissemination of research results (Open Science). I published two monographs, "Cosmologia carteziană" ["Cartesian Cosmology"; in Romanian, 2021] and "Descartes and Early French Cartesianism: between metaphysics and physics" (Zeta Books, 2017), and co-edited the volumes "Recent Advances in Digital Humanities" (Peter Lang, 2022) and "Cartesian Empiricisms" (Springer, 2013). I am book review editor at the "Centaurus," the Journal of the European Society for the History of Science (ESHS).
Recent research projects developed at the Humanities Division of the ICUB include "Making Modern Science: tracing the dynamics of a ‘Cartesian Newtonian textbook’ during the Scientific Revolution" (CartesianPhysics) and "Early Modern Cosmology Between 'Mosaic Physics' and Mechanical Philosophy 1650-1713" (Cosmology).edit
“Jacques Rohault on Medicine.” In "Descartes and Medicine: Problems, Responses and Survival of a Cartesian Discipline," edited by Fabrizio Baldassarri. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 361-376, forthcoming 2023.
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“Rohault’s Private Lessons on Cosmology,” chapter in the edited volume "Descartes in the Classroom: Teaching Cartesian Philosophy in the Early Modern Age," ed. Davide Cellamare and Mattia Mantovani, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2022.
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This paper explores an overlooked aspect of the brief but intense correspondence between William Petty and Henry More, making use of the Hartlib Papers Online. Traditionally, the brief epistolary exchange between More and Petty has been... more
This paper explores an overlooked aspect of the brief but intense correspondence between William Petty and Henry More, making use of the Hartlib Papers Online. Traditionally, the brief epistolary exchange between More and Petty has been seen in the light of an opposition between Cartesian rationalism and Baconian empiricism. A look at the original manuscripts, however, shows that the opposition was not originally framed in those terms at all. This article draws attention to the actors’ original categories, and places this exchange in the evolving landscape of seventeenth-century natural philosophy.
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ABSTRACT
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This paper addresses the problem of Jacques Rohault’s Cartesianism. It aims to enrich the current image of Rohault (1618-1672) as a Cartesian natural philosopher concerned with experimentation. I would like to suggest that modern... more
This paper addresses the problem of Jacques Rohault’s Cartesianism. It aims to enrich the current image of Rohault (1618-1672) as a Cartesian natural philosopher concerned with experimentation. I would like to suggest that modern evaluation of Rohault as a reputed experimentalist can benefit from an additional explanatory layer in terms of a mathematical physics that shapes his natural philosophy. In order to argue for this complementary account, I focus upon an early episode in Rohault’s career, represented by his reply to Fermat’s attacks against Descartes’s law of refraction (1658). The source has so far solely been discussed as part of the dispute in optics between Fermat and the Cartesians. The reading endorsed here explores the source from a different angle, suggesting an alternative account grounded upon a more contextual understanding of Rohault’s contribution to Cartesianism. I explain how several layers in Rohault’s intellectual formation are further revealed by tracing an accurate chronology, and how, in turn, this provides a more complex picture of this type of Cartesian natural philosophy.
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The entry offers an overview of the relation between Cartesianism and experimental philosophy in the second part of the seventeenth century. It builds upon recent developments in both the history of early modern experimental philosophy... more
The entry offers an overview of the relation between Cartesianism and experimental philosophy in the second part of the seventeenth century. It builds upon recent developments in both the history of early modern experimental philosophy and the history of Cartesianism. The emphasis is on the various forms of Cartesian experimental attitude; yet, the entry does not aim to provide an exhaustive list of this variety. Rather, it provides a possible reading for the interplay between the inner tensions of the Cartesian system (the grounding metaphysics and general physics) and the ongoing contemporary debates and practices (the emergence of other forms of experimentation and experimental practices).
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“Jacques Rohault and Cartesian Experimentalism.” In Oxford Handbook to Descartes and Cartesianism, eds. Steven Nadler, Delphine Antoine-Mahut, Tad Schmaltz. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019: 388-401.
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Early Science and Medicine 23 (3), 2018: 244-264.
Research Interests: 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, 17th-Century Studies, René Descartes, Cartesianism, Early Modern Intellectual History, and 6 moreRepublic of Letters (Early Modern History), 17th- and 18th-century Philosophy, Descartes, Early Modern Philosophy, Henry More, and Early Modern Philosophy (Descartes
Encyclopaedia entry on Jacques Rohault for the Cambridge Descartes Lexicon (ed. Lawrence Nolan), Cambridge University Press, 2016: 657-659.
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Abstract. Descartes and the Hartlib Circle: an episode of knowledge communication in the early modern period. This paper discusses the various strategies taken by Samuel Hartlib in order to approach Descartes. I argue that Hartlib tried,... more
Abstract. Descartes and the Hartlib Circle: an episode of knowledge communication in the early modern period. This paper discusses the various strategies taken by Samuel Hartlib in order to approach Descartes. I argue that Hartlib tried, at least twice, to put Descartes in contact with his own philosophical agenda. However, none of these attempts were done directly, but through the use of intermediaries. I detail the case of the 1638-1640 approach, then the 1648 letter exchanges, with a greater focus on the second episode (involving Henry More), which also reflects several additional philosophical points. The aim of the paper is to go beyond Webster’s classical study of the correspondence between More and William Petty and to argue that Hartlib’s second approach carried the mark of another agenda, which was not that much directed toward Descartes, but with imposing Hartlib’s views at the University of Cambridge.
Keywords: Descartes, Hartlib, Bacon, More, Petty.
Published in Revista de Filosofie 63 (6) , 2016: 725-738
Keywords: Descartes, Hartlib, Bacon, More, Petty.
Published in Revista de Filosofie 63 (6) , 2016: 725-738
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Book review of Jacques Rohault, Traité de physique, édition par Simone Mazauric, Paris, Édition du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques (Collection CTHS Sciences n° 12), 2014, 830 p. In Artefact. Techniques, histoire et... more
Book review of Jacques Rohault, Traité de physique, édition par Simone Mazauric, Paris, Édition du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques (Collection CTHS Sciences n° 12), 2014, 830 p. In Artefact. Techniques, histoire et sciences humaines. Le XXe siècle du Technique. Formation, recherché et économie 3/ 2016: 231-235.
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Abstract. Notoriously, Descartes does not have a concept of space. Or better said, he takes space as indistinguishable from matter or extension. Yet, to some of his contemporaries, his physics was successful at providing mechanical... more
Abstract. Notoriously, Descartes does not have a concept of space. Or better said, he takes space as indistinguishable from matter or extension. Yet, to some of his contemporaries, his physics was successful at providing mechanical descriptions of the natural world. In this paper, I shall discuss the problem of “space” within a larger Cartesian framework, focusing on how experimentally-minded Cartesians took up the challenge provided by Descartes’s restrictive ontology and tried to accommodate it to experimental results. One of the most famous debates of seventeenth-century natural philosophy concerns the existence of the vacuum. New instruments were built with the specific purpose of providing clear evidence to support this claim. While a large secondary literature has been devoted to this problem, we still lack a study of the Cartesians involved. Most of the time, Descartes’s followers are taken to merely repeat his words about the contradictory nature of the vacuum, hence, their experiments are portrayed as rather misplaced practices. At most, one would find in the literature a discussion about the pedagogical value of these experiments. The consequence is that new experimental approaches provided by Cartesians after Descartes’s death in 1650 are, unfortunately, neglected. By building upon a recent volume, Cartesian Empiricisms, my aim in this paper is to explore the notion of space within Cartesian experimentalism. In doing so, I shall refer to the works of Burchard de Volder, Jacques Rohault, and Samuel Clarke’s annotations of Rohault’s text. Some of the questions I would like to address are as follows: why would a Cartesian natural philosopher perform experiments that are clearly connected to a concept of independent space? What would be the expected outcome? How does the theory (in this case, the Cartesian matter theory) relate to empirical evidence? And how would the latter influence the former? Such questions are relevant for the history of experiment in the early modern period. At the same time, they offer more insights into one of the most intricate problems of Cartesian philosophy, the relation between metaphysics and physics.
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Abstract. Often associated with the birth of modern science, the early modern experiment has been discussed in the light of a lineage that would point a clear progress from Bacon to Newton. The received view tends to emphasize the... more
Abstract. Often associated with the birth of modern science, the early modern experiment has been discussed in the light of a lineage that would point a clear progress from Bacon to Newton. The received view tends to emphasize the contribution of early modern British natural philosophers and to overlook the contributions offered by others. By discussing some of the recent scholarship on this topic (e.g., Anstey 2014), I would like to suggest that a similar form of experimentalism was developed in a completely different context. In this paper, I discuss two cases of experiments (the Torricellian experiment and experiments with glass drops) in the light of a Baconian form of experimentation. I suggest that a good framework to understand part of the history of experimentation is to use the tripartite classification of experience proposed by the Cartesian natural philosopher, Jacques Rohault.
Keywords: experiment, experimental philosophy, Boyle, Rohault, Hooke.
Keywords: experiment, experimental philosophy, Boyle, Rohault, Hooke.
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This introduction opens a discussion about what we call here “Cartesian Empiricisms.” Under this label we place some of the complex transformations of Descartes’ ideas in the second half of the seventeenth century. Our aim is to highlight... more
This introduction opens a discussion about what we call here “Cartesian Empiricisms.” Under this label we place some of the complex transformations of Descartes’ ideas in the second half of the seventeenth century. Our aim is to highlight the use of experiment within the Cartesian framework, which—with the exception of a few scattered studies on seventeenth-century Cartesians—was largely neglected in the literature. In this introduction, we provide an overview of Cartesian scholarship and the use of the rationalist-empiricist distinction in both the history of philosophy and the history of science; we show that the rationalist-empiricist narrative is in crisis and contend that examining figures who do not neatly fit the dichotomy is a useful approach to a re-evaluation of the period. We end with a summary of the chapters, which cover a number of Cartesians strongly committed to the importance of experimental natural philosophy and further our understanding of how Cartesians in the second half of the seventeenth century understood and utilized knowledge from observation, experience, and experiment.
Research Interests: 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, Empiricism, Seventeenth Century, 17th-Century Studies, Cartesianism, and 6 moreRationalism, Descartes, René, Philosophy of Science, History of the Philosophy of Science, Epistemology of Experimentation, History of the Human sciences, Scientific Revolution, Descartes, and Rationalism – Empiricism
In 1671, Jacques Rohault published his Traité de physique, a textbook on physics relying on his weekly conferences held in Paris. A good mathematician and at the same time a curious experimenter, Rohault was one of the main Cartesian... more
In 1671, Jacques Rohault published his Traité de physique, a textbook on physics relying on his weekly conferences held in Paris. A good mathematician and at the same time a curious experimenter, Rohault was one of the main Cartesian figures of his time. His natural philosophy was quickly disseminated through translations of his book. The first was issued in Geneva, in 1674, when Théophile Bonet made a Latin translation, which was later used in various European universities, including Louvain, Leiden, and Cambridge. The importance of disseminating Cartesian ideas reveals important themes in the history of science and Bonet’s translation pictures an important lineage between Cartesian and Newtonian ideas. This Latin edition was used in England up to the end of the century and some of the first-generation Newtonians were learning physics from it. Not only that Rohault’s physics has become an important textbook in Cambridge, but also, a fresh translation was made in 1697 by the celebrated Newtonian, Samuel Clarke. What is of great historical interest in Clarke’s new translation is that he commented the text, making a mixture of Newtonian and Cartesian ideas. This edition was published a number of times – in both Latin and English – surviving up to the 1730s despite the increased Newtonian context. In this paper, I explore this puzzling fusion of Cartesianism and Newtonianism.
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In 1671, Jacques Rohault published his Traité de physique, a textbook on physics relying on his weekly conferences held in Paris. A good mathematician and at the same time a curious experimenter, Rohault was one of the main Cartesian... more
In 1671, Jacques Rohault published his Traité de physique, a textbook on physics relying on his weekly conferences held in Paris. A good mathematician and at the same time a curious experimenter, Rohault was one of the main Cartesian figures of his time. Connected to Parisian philosophical circles, Rohault was deeply concerned with the reception of Descartes’ philosophical views. He was associated with Claude Clerselier and he encouraged Pierre-Sylvain Régis to spread Cartesianism in Toulouse. Performing experiments and using instruments in his observations, allowed for a very good reception of Rohault’s natural philos-ophy in the late seventeenth century. Thus, his textbook on physics was quickly translated and disseminated across Europe. Of a particular interest is the English version of this book, which was annotated by the celebrated Newtonian, Samuel Clarke. This chapter will provide a deep analysis of Rohault’s system of physics, with an emphasis on his experimental approach. Equally important, the Newtonian reception of Rohault’s treatise will be discussed in close connection to the struc-ture of his philosophical system and the methodological novelties introduced by the French philosopher.
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One of the most appealing features of Descartes’s natural philosophy was its origin in a strong-justificatory metaphysical foundation. In this essay, I discuss his passage from the certainty of his metaphysics to the knowledge of the... more
One of the most appealing features of Descartes’s natural philosophy was its origin in a strong-justificatory metaphysical foundation. In this essay, I discuss his passage from the certainty of his metaphysics to the knowledge of the existence of bodies and the establishment of a natural philosophy that is ‘more than morally certain’. This discussion is made in connection with the way Descartes’s ideas were developed by some of his early philosophical heirs, such as Jacques du Roure, Gerauld de Cordemoy, and Jacques Rohault. My interest is to analyse how each of these Cartesians unwrapped the argument for the existence of bodies and how their solution to this problem reveals new paths for solving Descartes’s quest for certainty in natural philosophy.
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The glass drop is a tear-shaped object with many curious properties. Although having a fragile tail, its main body is hard to break. On the other hand, breaking such a drop produces a loud noise and many very small particles of glass. In... more
The glass drop is a tear-shaped object with many curious properties. Although having a fragile tail, its main body is hard to break. On the other hand, breaking such a drop produces a loud noise and many very small particles of glass. In the seventeenth century, these objects became the focus of both experimental and natural philosophical investigation. In this article, I examine the ways in which various natural philosophers have dealt with glass-drops. This is neither a complete enumeration of the countless attempts to explain the object and its associated phenomena, nor a search for its origins. Rather, this study offers a glimpse into what was at stake in the inclusion of the glass drop—a new scientific object—into natural philosophy. I shall argue that a full description of the drop and of its properties required both experiment and speculation.
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One of the most difficult, yet interesting change in the seventeenth-century natural philosophy was that of chemistry. This essay focuses upon Cartesian re-evaluation of the philosophical disciplines, arguing that, from a systematic... more
One of the most difficult, yet interesting change in the seventeenth-century natural philosophy was that of chemistry. This essay focuses upon Cartesian re-evaluation of the philosophical disciplines, arguing that, from a systematic perspective, chemistry cannot find a place in natural philosophy. Chemistry, in its seventeenth-century form of “chymistry” shares a number of common features with other traditions and practices. Descartes and his first-generation of followers discussed in this essay – Jacques du Roure, Robert Desgabets, and Jacques Rohault – will react precisely to this discipline of “chymistry,” opposing it to their physics built on a combination between theory of matter and mechanical explanations. The very restrictive Cartesian theory of matter will come into tension with any intermediate explanatory entity, such as the chymical principles. This essay will investigate such tensions, arguing that they are caused by both ontological and epistemological commitments. For example, the principles of the chymists contradict the one material extension of the
Cartesian world. At the same time, Cartesians require a more thorough reductive process then the one provided by chymical explanations. In this sense, chymistry is good for practical purposes, but fails in providing an explanation in natural philosophy and, hence, to represent a science.
Cartesian world. At the same time, Cartesians require a more thorough reductive process then the one provided by chymical explanations. In this sense, chymistry is good for practical purposes, but fails in providing an explanation in natural philosophy and, hence, to represent a science.
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Jacques Rohault (1618-1672) was one of the most important Cartesians in seventeenth-century France. He became famous in Paris, during the 1660s, when he hosted some very popular public conferences. Unlike his contemporary Cartesian... more
Jacques Rohault (1618-1672) was one of the most important Cartesians in seventeenth-century France. He became famous in Paris, during the 1660s, when he hosted some very popular public conferences. Unlike his contemporary Cartesian fellows, Rohault was well concerned with the problem of experiment and he designed a number of instruments, which were used in his observations. The results of his experimental research were printed in the Traité de physique (1671), which was quickly translated into Latin and published in Geneva, Amsterdam, London, and Louvain among other places.
In this paper, I shall propose a new reading for the problem of the reception of Rohault’s textbook in England. Translated and annotated by the celebrated Newtonian, Samuel Clarke, this book represents a combination of Cartesianism and Newtonianism. While Descartes’s influence upon Newton’s philosophy has been discussed by various scholars, the relation between Cartesianism and Newtonianism is still a topic in need of further exploration for the historians of science. Clarke’s various editions of Rohault’s Traité provide a good example of the diffusion of Cartesianism at the end of the seventeenth century, making an interesting case study for the dialogue between two competing paradigms during the “scientific revolution” and the transformation of natural philosophy into physics.
In this paper, I shall propose a new reading for the problem of the reception of Rohault’s textbook in England. Translated and annotated by the celebrated Newtonian, Samuel Clarke, this book represents a combination of Cartesianism and Newtonianism. While Descartes’s influence upon Newton’s philosophy has been discussed by various scholars, the relation between Cartesianism and Newtonianism is still a topic in need of further exploration for the historians of science. Clarke’s various editions of Rohault’s Traité provide a good example of the diffusion of Cartesianism at the end of the seventeenth century, making an interesting case study for the dialogue between two competing paradigms during the “scientific revolution” and the transformation of natural philosophy into physics.
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The appearance of scientific journals in the second half of the seventeenth century not only presented new opportunities for the dissemination of knowledge, but also offers the historian a privileged view of the shared knowledge within... more
The appearance of scientific journals in the second half of the seventeenth century not only presented new opportunities for the dissemination of knowledge, but also offers the historian a privileged view of the shared knowledge within the scientific community. The Journal des Sçavans, founded in 1665, proclaimed its ambition to disseminate news about books and people concerning the République des lettres. Given the reportedly high interest in and opposition to the rise of Cartesianism among contemporary philosophers, this paper explores the discussion of Cartesianism within the pages of the Journal. It is shown that debates on Cartesianism formed only a small portion of the articles in the Journal. Although the majority of commentaries referred to the metaphysical foundations of Cartesian philosophy, a considerable number of instances were found referring to empirical tests of the theory. Finally, as the Journal does not mention the condemnations or censorship of Cartesianism, we cannot speak of a general feeling of hostility against Cartesian philosophers among the editors or intended audience of the Journal.
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Recent Advances in Digital Humanities: Romance Language Applications, Eds. Anca Dinu, Mădălina Chitez, Liviu Dinu and Mihnea Dobre. Berlin, Germany: Peter Lang, 2022.
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Cosmologia carteziană [Cartesian Cosmology; in Romanian], București: Editura Universității din București, 2021.
Link: https://editura-unibuc.ro/en/produs/cosmologia-carteziana/
Link: https://editura-unibuc.ro/en/produs/cosmologia-carteziana/
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Descartes and Early French Cartesianism: between metaphysics and physics, Zeta Books, Foundations of Modern Thought series, 2017. René Descartes is famous for his metaphysical foundation of his philosophical system. The image of the... more
Descartes and Early French Cartesianism: between metaphysics and physics, Zeta Books, Foundations of Modern Thought series, 2017.
René Descartes is famous for his metaphysical foundation of his philosophical system. The image of the philosophical tree that he presents in the preface-letter to the French edition of the Principles of Philosophy (1647) offers a straightforward depiction of an organic growth of the philosophical system out of the metaphysical roots. This Cartesian metaphor was copiously exploited by the first Cartesians, who often attempted to represent Descartes's whole system as developing from metaphysical roots. However, the relations between metaphysics, physics, and the rest of the philosophical disciplines were deeply problematic. The book explores the difficulties of the alleged underpinning of Descartes’s physics into the metaphysics. It starts from Descartes’s own works, but expands into an investigation of the early reception of Cartesian physics in the French context. It gives an account of several first-generation Cartesians (Jacques du Roure, Géraud de Cordemoy, François Bayle, and Jacques Rohault), especially of how such figures discussed the passage from metaphysics to physics. The book offers a detailed discussion of the relevant writings of these authors, especially of those publications concerned with the foundation of natural philosophy and with its relation to metaphysics. The study of early forms of French Cartesianism is done also to refer back to Descartes, such that the solutions provided by his early followers are called to provide a better understanding of the philosophical problems identified in the writings of their more famous contemporary.
René Descartes is famous for his metaphysical foundation of his philosophical system. The image of the philosophical tree that he presents in the preface-letter to the French edition of the Principles of Philosophy (1647) offers a straightforward depiction of an organic growth of the philosophical system out of the metaphysical roots. This Cartesian metaphor was copiously exploited by the first Cartesians, who often attempted to represent Descartes's whole system as developing from metaphysical roots. However, the relations between metaphysics, physics, and the rest of the philosophical disciplines were deeply problematic. The book explores the difficulties of the alleged underpinning of Descartes’s physics into the metaphysics. It starts from Descartes’s own works, but expands into an investigation of the early reception of Cartesian physics in the French context. It gives an account of several first-generation Cartesians (Jacques du Roure, Géraud de Cordemoy, François Bayle, and Jacques Rohault), especially of how such figures discussed the passage from metaphysics to physics. The book offers a detailed discussion of the relevant writings of these authors, especially of those publications concerned with the foundation of natural philosophy and with its relation to metaphysics. The study of early forms of French Cartesianism is done also to refer back to Descartes, such that the solutions provided by his early followers are called to provide a better understanding of the philosophical problems identified in the writings of their more famous contemporary.
Research Interests: 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, History of Science, Seventeenth Century, René Descartes, Cartesianism, and 10 moreEarly Modern Intellectual History, René Descartes (in Philosophy/History Of Philosophy/17th Century Early Modern Philosophy), Descartes, René, Scientific Revolution, Descartes, Early Modern Philosophy, Seventeenth Century Science, Rene Descartes, Cartésianismes Et Leurs Réceptions, and Early Modern Philosophy (Descartes
Cartesian Empiricisms considers the role Cartesians played in the acceptance of experiment in natural philosophy during the seventeenth century. It aims to correct a partial image of Cartesian philosophers as paradigmatic system builders... more
Cartesian Empiricisms considers the role Cartesians played in the acceptance of experiment in natural philosophy during the seventeenth century. It aims to correct a partial image of Cartesian philosophers as paradigmatic system builders who failed to meet challenges posed by the new science’s innovative methods. Studies in this volume argue that far from being strangers to experiment, many Cartesians used and integrated it into their natural philosophies. Chapter 1 reviews the historiographies of early modern philosophy, science, and Cartesianism and their recent critiques. The first part of the volume explores various Cartesian contexts of experiment: the impact of French condemnations of Cartesian philosophy in the second half of the seventeenth century; the relation between Cartesian natural philosophy and the Parisian academies of the 1660s; the complex interplay between Cartesianism and Newtonianism in the Dutch Republic; the Cartesian influence on medical teaching at the University of Duisburg; and the challenges chemistry posed to the Cartesian theory of matter. The second part of the volume examines the work of particular Cartesians, such as Henricus Regius, Robert Desgabets, Jacques Rohault, Burchard de Volder, Antoine Le Grand, and Balthasar Bekker. Together these studies counter scientific revolution narratives that take rationalism and empiricism to be two mutually exclusive epistemological and methodological paradigms. The volume is thus a helpful instrument for anyone interested both in the histories of early modern philosophy and science, as well as for scholars interested in new evaluations of the historiographical tools that framed our traditional narratives.
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Book review of Jacques Rohault, Traité de physique, édition par Simone Mazauric, Paris, Édition du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques (Collection CTHS Sciences n° 12), 2014, 830 p. In Artefact. Techniques, histoire et... more
Book review of Jacques Rohault, Traité de physique, édition par Simone Mazauric, Paris, Édition du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques (Collection CTHS Sciences n° 12), 2014, 830 p. In Artefact. Techniques, histoire et sciences humaines. Le XXe siècle du Technique. Formation, recherché et économie 3/ 2016: 231-235
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Book review of Lawrence Nolan (ed.), Primary and Secondary Qualities (Oxford University Press, 2011). In Journal of Early Modern Studies (JEMS) 3 (1)/ 2014: 149-153.
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Book review of Manning, Gideon (ed.), Matter and Form in Early Modern Science and Philosophy (Brill, 2012). In British Journal for the History of Science 47 (2)/ June 2014: 375-376.
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“Material Objects and Circulation of Knowledge in Early Modern Low Countries.” Book-review of Sven Dupré and Christoph Lüthy (eds.), Silent Messengers. The Circulation of Material Objects of Knowledge in the Early Modern Low Countries... more
“Material Objects and Circulation of Knowledge in Early Modern Low Countries.” Book-review of Sven Dupré and Christoph Lüthy (eds.), Silent Messengers. The Circulation of Material Objects of Knowledge in the Early Modern Low Countries (Berlin: Lit Verlag, 2011) in Society and Politics 7, 1 (13): 117-119, 2013.
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Book review of Antonia LoLordo, Pierre Gassendi and the Birth of Early Modern Philosophy. In Early Science and Medicine, 16/ 2 (2011), pp. 168-172.
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“Natural Philosophy and the Birth of Modern Science” (Book review for Stephen Gaukroger, The Emergence of a Scientific Culture. Science and the Shaping of Modernity 1210-1685), in Studii de ştiinţă şi cultură, VI (2010), No. 4 (23), pp.... more
“Natural Philosophy and the Birth of Modern Science” (Book review for Stephen Gaukroger, The Emergence of a Scientific Culture. Science and the Shaping of Modernity 1210-1685), in Studii de ştiinţă şi cultură, VI (2010), No. 4 (23), pp. 182-183.
Research Interests: Philosophy of Science, 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, History of Science, Early Modern Science and Philosophy, Early Modern Intellectual History, and 5 moreRepublic of Letters (Early Modern History), Early Modern Science, Scientific Revolution, Early Modern Philosophy, and Historiography of scientific revolution
Book review of Fred Ablondi, Gerauld de Cordemoy: Atomist, Occasionalist, Cartesian (Milwaukee, 2005), in Early Science and Medicine 11 (2006), 365-67.
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Blog post.
Research Interests: 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, Early Modern History, Historiography, Robert Hooke, Cartesianism, and 13 moreFrancis Bacon, Early Modern Science and Philosophy, Early Modern Intellectual History, Early Modern Science, Scientific Revolution, Early Modern Philosophy, Early modern European history, hisory of science, history of religion, Robert Boyle, History of Cartesianism, Seventeenth Century Science, History of Early Modern Science, Rohault, and Cartésianismes Et Leurs Réceptions
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A round-table discussion organized together with Vlad Alexandrescu and Grigore Vida. ICUB, Bucharest (20.11.2014). Rezumat: Unul dintre testele de validare ale noilor filosofii a fost în Modernitatea timpurie felul în care acestea erau... more
A round-table discussion organized together with Vlad Alexandrescu and Grigore Vida. ICUB, Bucharest (20.11.2014).
Rezumat: Unul dintre testele de validare ale noilor filosofii a fost în Modernitatea timpurie felul în care acestea erau capabile să dea seamă despre dificultățile principale ale teologiei creștine. Un bun exemplu este explicația filosofică a Euharistiei avansată de Descartes într-o serie de scrisori private, care a circulat în veacul al XVII-lea în numeroase copii manuscrise. Vom prezenta o culegere manuscrisă ce conține unele dintre aceste copii, precum și o întreagă polemică pe care ele le-au suscitat, făcând din aceste scrisori o piatră de poticnire în receptarea filosofiei carteziene pentru o jumătate de secol.
Rezumat: Unul dintre testele de validare ale noilor filosofii a fost în Modernitatea timpurie felul în care acestea erau capabile să dea seamă despre dificultățile principale ale teologiei creștine. Un bun exemplu este explicația filosofică a Euharistiei avansată de Descartes într-o serie de scrisori private, care a circulat în veacul al XVII-lea în numeroase copii manuscrise. Vom prezenta o culegere manuscrisă ce conține unele dintre aceste copii, precum și o întreagă polemică pe care ele le-au suscitat, făcând din aceste scrisori o piatră de poticnire în receptarea filosofiei carteziene pentru o jumătate de secol.
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Notoriously, Descartes does not have a concept of space. Or better said, he uses space as indistinguishable from matter or extension. Yet, to some of his contemporaries, his physics was successful at providing mechanical descriptions of... more
Notoriously, Descartes does not have a concept of space. Or better said, he uses space as indistinguishable from matter or extension. Yet, to some of his contemporaries, his physics was successful at providing mechanical descriptions of the natural world. In this paper, I shall discuss the problem of “space” within a larger Cartesian framework, focusing on how experimentally-minded Cartesians took the challenge provided by Descartes’s restrictive ontology and tried to accommodate it with experimental results. One of the most famous debates in the seventeenth-century natural philosophy was about the existence of void space. New instruments were built with the particular purpose of providing clear evidence to support this claim. A large secondary literature was devoted to this problem, however, a study of the Cartesians involved into such discussions is still lacking. Most of the time, Descartes’s followers are taken to merely repeat his words about the contradictory nature of vacuum, hence, their experiments are portrayed as rather misplaced practices. At most, one would find in the literature a discussion about the pedagogical value of these experiments. The consequence is that new experimental approaches provided by Cartesians after Descartes’s death in 1650 are unfortunately neglected. By building upon a recent work on Cartesian Empiricisms, my aim in this paper is to explore the notion of space within Cartesian experimentalism. In doing so, I shall refer to the works of Burchard de Volder, Jacques Rohault, and Samuel Clarke’s annotations to Rohault’s text. Some of the questions I would like to address are as follows: why would a Cartesian natural philosopher perform experiments that are clearly connected to a concept of independent space? What would be the expected outcome? How does the theory (in this case, the Cartesian matter theory) relate with the empirical evidence? And how would the later influence the former? Such questions are relevant for the history of experiment in the early modern period. At the same time, they offer more insights into one of the most intricate problems of Cartesian philosophy, the relation between metaphysics and physics. Moreover, this problem can further illuminate our understanding of the transformations that lead eventually to the formation of modern science.
Research Interests: 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, Seventeenth Century, René Descartes, Cartesianism, Early Modern Intellectual History, and 10 moreDescartes, René, Blaise Pascal, Descartes, Vacuum Pump, Vacuum, Seventeenth Century Science, Rene Descartes, Void Space, Evangelista Torricelli, and Early Modern Philosophy (Descartes
Starting from Descartes’s mixed-references to the role of experience in his new natural philosophy, Cartesians had to find their own solutions to this problem. Challenged from different perspectives (metaphysical, theological, but also... more
Starting from Descartes’s mixed-references to the role of experience in his new natural philosophy, Cartesians had to find their own solutions to this problem. Challenged from different perspectives (metaphysical, theological, but also experimental, instrumental, and observational reports of new curious phenomena), Descartes’s followers came with solutions that were, oftentimes, divergent. In this paper, I plan to explore the solutions provided by François Bayle and Gerauld de Cordemoy to the explanation of bodily functions. I argue that while the first took an empirical path – arguing for a joint use of reason and experiment (in particular personal experience, as in the case of medical dissections) – the second was more concerned with providing sound mechanical explanations. I my paper, I shall start from Cordemoy’s treatise that was published together with Descartes’s celebrated 1664 edition of Le monde. This short text was two years later incorporated within Cordemoy’s Le discernement du corps et de l’âme as the second discourse. For him, it was of the utmost importance to express the similarity of the mechanical functions in artifacts as well as in living creatures. The animal-machine is reduced to its component parts – which, for Cordemoy are small bodies, different from matter. This view will be contrasted with that expressed by Fr. Bayle, a physician from Toulouse, who argued in several of his publications for a more empirical attitude to the investigation of nature. Medicine comes as a sub-domain of physics, but this does not mean that the method is imposed by the later. The case is rather the opposite, as I shall try to argue in the second part of my paper. Thus, for Bayle, medical practice imposes a new method of investigation of nature, as one should observe and do experiments in order to grasp what is hidden in nature.
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2014-2015. For the B.A. program in Jewish Studies.
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2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017. For the B.A. program in Jewish Studies.
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2013-2014, 2014-2015. For the M.A. program in Religious Studies.
Research Interests: Intellectual History, 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, History of Ideas, Early Modern History, Benedict de Spinoza, and 8 moreBaruch Spinoza, Republic of Letters (Early Modern History), Spinoza, Religious Studies, Benedictus Spinoza, History of Political Ideas, History of Philosophy, and Early Modern Intellectual History and the History of Ideas
2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017. For the M.A. program in Religious Studies.
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2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017. for the M.A. program in Religious Studies.
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2010-2011, 2012-2013: Seminar on “Dimensiuni etice ale stiintei (Ethical Dimensions of Science).”
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2012-2013: Course on “Schimbari de paradigma in istoria stiintei: cazul perioadei modern timpurii” (Paradigm Shifts in the History of Science: the early modern period).
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2008-2009: “Dincolo de paradigmele lui Kuhn: filosofia stintei in context istoric (Beyond Kuhnian paradigms: philosophy of science within historical context).” Course offered in co-teaching system together with Dana Jalobeanu and Prof.... more
2008-2009: “Dincolo de paradigmele lui Kuhn: filosofia stintei in context istoric (Beyond Kuhnian paradigms: philosophy of science within historical context).” Course offered in co-teaching system together with Dana Jalobeanu and Prof. Ilie Parvu.
