Gassendi the Atomist: Advocate of History in an Age of Science.

Abstract

Preface List of illustrations Introduction 1. Other atomists, other skeptics, and other Epicureans: the problem of determining the context of Gassendi's career Part I. Humanist Historiography: 2. Refuting Aristotle is not enough: how to acquire the skills of a French humanist 3. Gassendi's Life of Peiresc: the humanist's unattainable goal of writing a universal history 4. The growth of Gassendi's Epicurean project: from biography and commentary to a history of philosophy Part II. Physics and the History of Philosophy: 5. Unrecognized cultural baggage: the incoherence of contemporary debates about atoms 6. Uncertainties of observation and explanation: the role of optical anomalies in astronomy 7. Skepticism is based on bad history: Gassendi interprets Epicurus' arguments concerning the existence and qualities of atoms 8. Epicurus' conception of proof and Gassendi's historical justification of an atomist metaphysics and physics 9. Between culture and nature: was Gassendi a historian, a scientist, an empiricist? List of abbreviations used in the notes Notes Index of names.

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