SOURCE: “Mind Versus Flesh,” in The Battle of the Gods and Giants: The Legacies of Descartes and Gassendi, 1655-1715, Princeton University Press, 1993, pp. 106-37.

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 Cartesian philosophy.

Mind Versus Flesh

Early on Descartes had taken Gassendi to be, if not an authority, then at least someone to be regarded seriously in optics, astronomy, and other matters.¹ With Gassendi's Objections, however, Descartes's attitude changes dramatically. On June 23, 1641, he returned to Mersenne Gassendi's objections along with the advice to have them printed without...