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.

In this excerpt, Sarasohn discusses the progress from Gassendi's idea of natural man to his construction of the social contracts that buttress a system of government. Frequently contrasting Gassendi's “Ethics” with the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, the critic emphasizes the importance to Gassendi of free will and the primary human drive for pleasure—tempered by prudence—in his notion of a just and moral society.

In this essay, the Michaels argue strongly for Gassendi's considerable influence on John Locke, discussing possible sources for Locke's knowledge of Gassendi and comparing passages from Gassendi's Syntagma Philosophicum and Exercitationes Paradoxicae adversus Aristoteleos with Locke's Essays on the Law of Nature and Essay Concerning Human Understanding.

In this essay, Glidden demonstrates how Gassendi's reading of Epicurus—transmitted via Thomas Stanley's translation of Philosophiae Epicuri Syntagma—influenced the development of Epicureanism in England. The critic also argues that Gassendi's interpretation of Epicurean philosophy is influenced by his reading of the Stoics.

In the following excerpt, Osler explicates the voluntarism that permeates Gassendi's work, placing his development of a mechanical philosophy in the context of seventeenth-century theological controversies. The critic finds that Gassendi's insistence on human free will, in addition to divine free will, distinguishes him from other materialist thinkers, including Thomas Hobbes.

In the excerpt below, Spink considers Gassendi's adaptations of Epicurus, comparing Gassendi's work with Lucretius' De Rerum Natura. The critic also examines Gassendi's Syntagma philosophicum, finding Gassendi singular among his French contemporaries as a proponent of atomism.

In this excerpt, Popkin considers the work of Gassendi in the context of the so-called French libertines of the seventeenth century. The critic debunks the myth of the libertine philosopher as a dissolute atheist, finding instead that although Gassendi was a skeptic, his motives were of an anti-Aristotelian and not an anti-Christian bent.

In the following essay, Bloch discusses Gassendi as a transitional figure in the development of modern thought, focusing on his materialism and his epistemology. Bloch argues for the unrecognized importance of Gassendi both to British materialist thought, from John Locke to Immanuel Kant, and to political philosophy through modern times. This essay was translated by T. J. Reiss.

Dr. William Rand translated Gassendi's early Life of Peiresc into English as The Mirrour of True Nobility and Gentility. In this excerpt from the work's dedicatory epistle addressed to the diarist John Evelyn, Rand reveals his admiration for Gassendi's original text and for Gassendi himself.