Pierre Gassendi

Pierre Gassendi

Pierre Gassendi (also Pierre Gassend , Latin Petrus Gassendi ; born January 22, 1592 in Champtercier , Provence , † October 24, 1655 in Paris ) was a French theologian, scientist and philosopher. Among other things, he did research as an astronomer and as such was in frequent contact with Galileo Galilei and Christoph Scheiner .

biography

His parents were Françoise Fabry and Antoine Gassend. Only later was the vowel "i" added to the name. He came from a rural environment. Pierre received his first school instruction through his maternal uncle, the Catholic priest Thomas Fabry.

Already at the age of 16 Gassendi was employed as a teacher of rhetoric in Digne , where he had started his studies. He later studied theology in Aix-en-Provence and Avignon and was ordained a priest. After receiving his doctorate in Avignon in 1614, he became professor of philosophy in Aix in 1616. After the Jesuits had taken over the management of the university, he decided to give up his professorship and began to work on a comprehensive work Exercitationes paradoxicae adversus Aristoteleos , in which he critically examined the prevailing Aristotelian philosophy . The first book of this work was published anonymously in Grenoble in 1624, with attribution in Amsterdam in 1649. He abandoned the original plan to deal with the entire peripatetic philosophy; the second book on dialectics first appeared in the Opera omnia (Lyon 1658).

Gassendi was in contact with many scholars and scientists of his time; his closest confidante were the astronomer and scholar Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc and the mathematician and theologian Marin Mersenne , who in turn met him with Gabriel Naudé , François de La Mothe le Vayer , Joseph Gaultier (1564–1647) and others. a. made known. His correspondence partners included Christoph Scheiner , Galileo Galilei , Eerryk van de Putte (1574–1646), and Gerhard Johannes Vossius .

From 1625 Gassendi was intensively concerned with the philosophy of Epicurus , which he tried to adequately reconstruct from ancient sources. His biography Epicursus appeared in 1647 with the refutation of the defamation of his person that has been customary since antiquity: De vita et moribus Epicuri , two years later the commented translation of the main source of Epicurus philosophy, the 10th book of De vita et moribus philosophorum by Diogenes Laertios and one systematic reconstruction of the entire Epicurean philosophy under the title Philosophiae Epicuri Syntagma , based on Diogenes Laertius, Lucretius and other ancient sources, especially Cicero and Seneca . This representation was authoritative well into the 19th century.

Gassendi followed the scientific researches of his time, for example that of Galileo, with great interest and participated in them. On November 7, 1631, he succeeded in making the first observation of a transit of Mercury , which Johannes Kepler had calculated in advance. His studies De proportione qua gravia decidentia accelerantur and De motu impresso a motore translato , which appeared between 1642 and 1645, are devoted to problems of dynamics .

Gassendi was appointed provost of the cathedral church at Digne in 1634 . Appointed professor again in 1645, he came - probably at the instigation of Richelieu - to the Collège de France in Paris, where he taught mathematics and astronomy. However, due to his poor health, he was only able to teach for a short time.

After a long illness, Gassendi died at the age of 63 in the house of a patron, the nobleman Habert de Montmor .

Theological-philosophical achievement

Following on from the atomistic theory of Epicurus, Gassendi represented - contrary to Descartes' dualistic worldview (spirit and matter) - the “only” materialistic worldview. In doing so, he set himself apart not only from Descartes, but ultimately also from Plato and Aristotle . Already in Aix he had written a work Exercitationes paradoxicae adversus Aristoteleos , of which only the first (1624) and the second book (1659, posthumously) were published (“ ... what laziness, instead of with your own eyes only with the eyes of the To see Aristotle and instead of nature itself just study Aristotle's writings on nature! ”). Incidentally, Gassendi already reproached Descartes, which Immanuel Kant will later object: Descartes counted existence among the properties (of God) in his proof of God. Existence is something fundamentally different from just one additional property or one material content (realitas) among others; rather, it is what brings all material content into being in the first place.

In the Syntagma philosophicum (1658) he followed the tripartite division of Epicurus' philosophy. In logic , he rejected Descartes' view of natural concepts and emphasized sensory impressions (and accordingly induction ) as the primary source of human knowledge. Gassendi was not a pure sensualist , however, because he did accept the principle of abstraction in complex ideas , and in mathematics he also recognized deduction as a sensible method. In physics he advocated a mechanistic interpretation of nature and sensations; nevertheless, for Gassendi, the world cannot be explained without divine origin. He saw the proof of the existence of God in the harmony of nature. His proof of a rationally thinking and - in contrast to Aristotle - immortal soul was based on the (for him obvious) power of reflexive thinking and man's knowledge of ethical principles. In the third part of his philosophy - ethics - he presented peace of mind and freedom from pain as the goal of human endeavor; however, these are hardly achievable in practice. Here he showed himself particularly clearly as a follower of Epicurus.

Ludwig Feuerbach realized that Gassendi was more than just a critic of Aristotle and Descartes. His attempt to combine moderate skepticism , ancient atomism, Christian belief, and the mechanistic physics of his time was an outstanding individual achievement. Similar to the way Thomas Aquinas - as far as he seemed possible - combined Aristotelian teachings with Christian beliefs, Gassendi undertook this with the teaching of Epicurus. In this sense, he was less a forerunner of the coming Enlightenment , but closer to the thinkers of the Renaissance . Like these, he began every philosophical argument with extensive quotations from ancient and contemporary authors; for him they formed the framework for “modern” epistemology . No truth criterion was sufficient for him if it did not satisfy the arguments that the ancient skeptics had already put forward.

Experimental scientific achievements

In his scientific writings Gassendi defended the heliocentric theory, the reality of empty space, and rejected the Aristotelian "forms" and purposes as the forces of nature. He provided a valid formulation of the principle of inertia and an early interpretation of Pascal's air pressure experiments . For his theory of seeing he assumed atomistic "effluxions" that transport images from the object to the viewer. In support of his atomistic theory, he undertook a series of chemical experiments that focused on the solution or crystallization of salts.

By examining the top of the church tower in Aix after a thunderstorm, Gassendi was the first to describe that iron can be magnetized by lightning.

Gassendi's formulation of the principle of inertia (for the first time in its current form) is based on experiments he carried out. With more than 100 participants, he carried out a fall experiment on a galley off Marseille, which Galileo had devised but not carried out. Contrary to Aristotelian assumptions, a stone dropped from the mast on a moving ship does not hit the stern, but hits the mast foot directly. The impetus theory was thus refuted. Large galleys were used because they also had masts and could reach high speeds without being significantly exposed to swell and heeling . With the drop wheel invented by Gassendi (diameter 4 m), the impetus theory can be comprehensively refuted at all locations with considerably less effort.

With his assumption “The same force always remains in the world”, he also formulated the law of conservation of energy for the first time .

Gassendi had extensive correspondence with Marin Mersenne , Giovanni Domenico Cassini , Galileo Galilei , Johannes Kepler , Johannes Hevelius , Christoph Scheiner , Descartes, Christina of Sweden , Thomas Hobbes and others.

History of Science and Biographies

Gassendi published the first complete biography of a scientist at all, the first and only biography of Tycho Brahe that came about through direct contact with contemporary witnesses who were still living at the time. Other biographies of Gassendi included Epicurus , Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc , Georg von Peuerbach , Regiomontanus and Nicolaus Copernicus . He also gave an overview of the supporters and opponents of the doctrine of Copernicus up to around 1615 (see De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ).

Honor

The IAU honored him with the naming of the asteroid (7179) Gassendi and a - geologically strongly structured - lunar crater on the northern edge of the Mare Humorum .

Fonts

• Exercitationes paradoxicae adversus Aristoteleos (1624)
• Epistolica Exercitatio, in qua precipua principia philosophiae Roberti Fluddi deteguntur (1631), pamphlet against Robert Fludd
• Disquisitiones Anticartesianae (1643)
• Disquisitio metaphysica (1644), pamphlet against Descartes
• De vita, moribus et placitis Epicuri (1647)
• Syntagma philosophiae Epicurii (1649)
• Tychonis Brahei, equitis Dani, Astronomorum Coryphaei, vita. Accessit Nicolai Copernici, Georgii Peurbachii, & Joannis Regiomontani, Astronomorum celebrium, vita (1655), online
• Syntagma philosophicum (1658)

Editions and translations

• Henri Louis Habert de Montmor (Ed.): Œuvres complètes. 6 volumes. 1658
• Sylvie Taussig (Ed.): Pierre Gassendi: Vie et mœurs d'Epicure. Les Belles Lettres, Paris 2006 (Latin text with French translation and commentary)
• Sylvie Taussig (translator): Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655): Lettres latines. 2 volumes. Brepols, Turnhout 2004, ISBN 2-503-51353-0 (French translation of the letters with commentary)

literature

• Olivier Bloch: La philosophie de Gassendi. Nominalisme, matérialisme et métaphysique . Martinus Nijhoff, La Haye 1971, ISBN 90-247-5035-0
• Franz Daxecker: The physicist and astronomer Christoph Scheiner. Universitätsverlag Wagner, Innsbruck 2006, ISBN 3-7030-0424-X
• Byeong Hee Cho: Knowledge and Truth with Pierre Gassendi. An investigation into his epistemology. Diss. Cologne 2004
• Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis : The mechanization of the world view. Reprint of the 1956 edition. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 1983, ISBN 3-540-02003-9
• Saul Fisher: Pierre Gassendi's Philosophy and Science. Brill, Leiden / Boston 2005, ISBN 978-90-04-11996-3
• Lynn Sumida Joy: Gassendi the Atomist: Advocate of History in an Age of Science. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK / New York 1987, ISBN 0-521-52239-0
• Antonia Lolordo: Pierre Gassendi and the Birth of Early Modern Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK / New York 2006, ISBN 978-0-521-86613-2
• Margaret J. Osler: Divine Will and the Mechanical Philosophy: Gassendi and Descartes on Contingency and Necessity in the Created World. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK / New York 1994, ISBN 0-521-46104-9
• Rolf W. Puster: British Gassendi reception using the example of John Locke. Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-7728-1362-3
• Matthias Risch: Pierre Gassendi and the Copernican era. In: Physics in Our Time. Issue 5/2007, pp. 249-253.
• Reiner Tack: Investigations into the concept of philosophy and science in Pierre Gassendi: (1592–1655). Hain, Meisenheim (am Glan) 1974, ISBN 3-445-01103-6
• Claus Zittel: The Lunatics of Aix-en-Provence: Peiresc-Mellan-Gassendi. In: Ulrike Feist & Markus Rath (eds.): Et in imagine ego. Facets of act of image and embodiment . Festschrift for Horst Bredekamp, ​​Berlin: Akademieverlag 2012, pp. 276–300.
• Claus Zittel: Gassendis Astronomenviten , in: Enenkel & Zittel (Ed.): The 'Vita' as a science control. Forms and functions of early modern scholar and artist biographies , Münster 2013, pp. 123–156.
• Michael Weichenhan: Life under the gaze of an excellent man. The biography as a medium of philosophy by Pierre Gassendi , Verlag T. Bautz, Nordhausen 2015.

Web links

Commons : Pierre Gassendi  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Pierre Gassendi in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Pierre Gassendi  in the German Digital Library
• Saul Fisher:  Pierre Gassendi Entry in Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Biography of JJ O'Connor and EF Robertson, online .
2. ^ John Robert Christianson: On Tycho's Island. Cambridge University Press, 2000