1592-1655 French Natural Philosopher, Mathematician, and Priest Pierre Gassendi is best known as the seventeenth-century rehabilitator of the atomism of the ancient Greek moralist and natural philosopher, Epicurus (341-270 B.C.). Gassendi found in...

Gassendi, Pierre(1592 October 18, 1992. Portrays the many scientific interests Gassendi...

Pierre Gassendi (January 22, 1592 – October 24, 1655) was a French philosopher, scientist, astronomer/astrologer [1], and mathematician, best known for attempting to reconcile Epicurean atomism with Christianity and for publishing the first...

Saul Fisher. Pierre Gassendi's Philosophy and Science: Atomism for Empiricists. Brill's Studies in Intellectual History 131. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2005. 436 pp. index. bibl. $172.50. ISBN: 90-04-11996-5. Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655), a French Catholic priest from Haute Provence, is best known...

LOLORDO, Antonia. Pierre Gassendi and the Birth of Early Modern Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. x+ 283 pp. Cloth, $75.00--This work is aptly subtitled "The Birth of Early Modern Philosophy." Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655) is not a household name, but he was in...

In this excerpt from his study of literature and culture in Restoration England, Kroll argues for Gassendi's importance to the importation of Epicureanism into England. Emphasizing motifs of circulation, the critic demonstrates the influence of not only Gassendi's written works, but also the symbolic figure of Gassendi himself.

In this excerpt, Lennon considers in depth Gassendi's Objections to René Descartes' Meditations. Focusing on the problem of representation, Lennon defends Gassendi from the charge, put forth by both Descartes and later critics, that he simply did not understand the nature of Descartes' method. Nevertheless, as Lennon argues throughout his book, the materialism that provided the foundation for Gassendi's critiques eventually could not compete with the dominance of Cartesia...

In this excerpt, Joy considers Gassendi as a historian, using an examination of his early Life of Peiresc to demonstrate the development of his historiography. Finally, Joy proposes, Gassendi's recognition of the futility of Peiresc's “universal history” fueled his later development and expansion of Epicurean philosophy.