A spiritual automaton: spinoza, reason, and the letters to blyenbergh Daniel SCHNEIDER Abstract. This paper examines a disagreement over epistemic “first principles” that takes place in the correspondence between Spinoza and Blyenbergh. Blyenbergh, following Descartes, states he will doubt that which is clearly and distinctly understood if it conflicts with Scripture. Spinoza, in turn, acquiesces […]
Author: dti
Fictional letters or real accusations? Anonymous correspondence in the bayle-jurieu controversy
Fictional letters or real accusations? Anonymous correspondence in the bayle-jurieu controversy Anton MATYTSIN Abstract. This article describes the polemical debate that took place between Huguenot refugees Pierre Jurieu and Pierre Bayle following the publication of Bayle’s notorious Dictionnaire historique et critique (1697). It focuses specifically on the volume of letters from anonymous readers published by […]
Francis bacon, early modern baconians, and the idols of baconian scholarship
FRANCIS BACON, EARLY MODERN BACONIANS, AND THE IDOLS OF BACONIAN SCHOLARSHIP Dana JALOBEANU Abstract. The purpose of this introductory essay is to situate some of the major questions relating to Bacon’s legacy and various forms of early modern Baconianism(s) in the wider context of Bacon studies, especially in view of recent developments in this field. […]
Francis Bacon on potential heat
FRANCIS BACON ON POTENTIAL HEAT Sebastian Mateiescu Abstract. The paper presents an analysis of the concept of potential heat and thus seeks to contribute some conceptual clarifications to Bacon’s theory of matter. The starting hypothesis is that potential heat could be seen at first sight as an example of occult quality, for it has a […]
Crucial instances and crucial experiments in Bacon, Boyle, and Hooke
CRUCIAL INSTANCES AND CRUCIAL EXPERIMENTS IN BACON, BOYLE, AND HOOKE Claudia DUMITRU Abstract. My paper is an account of the tradition of crucial experiments prior to Newton. The starting point of my investigation is the second book of Francis Bacon’s Novum Organum and his account of instantia crucis, a subset of the instances with special […]
Kant’s illuminating experiment: On the placement, purpose and essential procedure of the experiment of pure reason in the critique of pure reason
KANT’S ILLUMINATING EXPERIMENT: ON THE PLACEMENT, PURPOSE AND ESSENTIAL PROCEDURE OF THE EXPERIMENT OF PURE REASON IN THE CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON Brett FULKERSON-SMITH Abstract. In his Preface to the second edition of the Critique of Pure Reason, and many of his lectures on logic, Kant discusses and lauds the efforts of Francis Bacon to […]
Husbanding creation and the technology of amelioration in the works of Gabriel Plattes
HUSBANDING CREATION AND THE TECHNOLOGY OF AMELIORATION IN THE WORKS OF GABRIEL PLATTES Oana MATEI Abstract. In this paper I will try to investigate some of the ways in which husbandry, a recurrent topic in Gabriel Plattes’ works, was considered to be the recipe for bringing salvation in religious and economic manner. I will argue […]
Travel literature, the new world, and locke on species
TRAVEL LITERATURE, THE NEW WORLD, AND LOCKE ON SPECIES Patrick J. CONNOLLY Abstract. This paper examines the way in which Locke’s deep and longstanding interest in the non-European world contributed to his views on species and their classification. The evidence for Locke’s curiosity about the non-European world, especially his fascination with seventeenth-century travel literature, is […]
Material objects and circulation of knowledge in early modern low countries
MATERIAL OBJECTS AND CIRCULATION OF KNOWLEDGE IN EARLY MODERN LOW COUNTRIES Mihnea DOBRE 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) Series: Low Countries Studies on the Circulation of Natural Knowledge, vol. 1, ISBN 978-3-8258-1635-3, pp. ii+387 This volume is […]
Philosophy – the medicine for body and mind
PHILOSOPHY – THE MEDICINE FOR BODY AND MIND Sandra DRAGOMIR Francis Bacon and the Medicine of the Mind Late Renaissance Context, Perspectives on Science, Volume 20, Issue 2-Summer 2012, MIT, ISSN 1063-6145, E-ISSN 1530-9274, pp. 144 Sandra DRAGOMIR* The edition of this summer’s number of Perspectives on Science is dedicated to a close-up of a […]