The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy is without close precedent in its field. Like other recent Cambridge histories of philosophy, it consists of a series of chapters on topics or themes — rather than on individuals — by authors chosen for their special interests and achievements. Together these contributions add up to a comprehensive, expert, and innovative overview, from a wide variety of vantage points, of a period which supplied the philosophical seed-bed of the modern (and 'post-modern') world. The story that emerges lays less emphasis than usual on supposed innovations in epistemology, more on the replacement (or transformation) of Aristotelian scholastic science, dominant though under attack at the beginning of the century, by 'corpuscularian' mechanism. This direct ancestor of present-day physics drew largely, for its philosophical credentials, either on Platonism or on the atomism of Epicurus. With its uneasy relation to religious and political disputes and its internecine divisions, it generated much of the energy, hardly parallelled before or since, powering philosophical debates. Like the debates themselves, the present volumes overspill a narrow conception of 'seventeenth-century philosophy' in both subject-matter and temporal scope. Their structure in part represents a seventeenth-century perspective, reflecting a time when the 'philosopher' was as likely to be peering through a microscope or preaching on divine justice as discussing scepticism, consciousness, or the concepts of good and evil. The contributors have often looked back to the ancient, mediaeval, and Renaissance ideas which informed the arguments examined. A guiding assumption is that context illuminates meaning, a principle with surprising consequences for the interpretation of classic, still influential, but often seriously misunderstood texts. The same principle facilitates reassessment of works formerly consigned to obscurity. The volumes include an extensive bibliography of both primary and secondary materials, as well as an appendix containing brief biogra- phies and bibliographies for a wide range of philosophers. They are expected to serve not only as an important reference source for students and teachers but also as a valuable tool for research into the history both of philosophy and of ideas in general. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY PHILOSOPHY I Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy Volume I EDITED BY DANIEL GARBER MICHAEL AYERS University of Chicago Wadham College, University of Oxford with the assistance of Roger Ariew and Alan Gabbey CAMBRIDGE ••J'IV w UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, United Kingdom 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1998 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1998 Printed in the United States of America Typeset in Bembo A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Cambridge history of seventeenth-century philosophy / edited by Daniel Garber, Michael Ayers, with the assistance of Roger Ariew and Alan Gabbey. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 0-521-58864-2 1. Philosophy, Modern — 17th century. I. Garber, Daniel, 1949- II. Ayers, Michael, 1935- B801.C35 1997 96-25475 — dc2O CIP Volume I ISBN 0-521-30763-5 hardback Available only as a set: ISBN 0-521-58864-2 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 CONTENTS VOLUME I List of contributors page ix Preface xi DANIEL GARBER AND MICHAEL AYERS List of abbreviations xv Introduction i MICHAEL AYERS AND DANIEL GARBER I The context of seventeenth-century philosophy 1 The institutional setting 9 RICHARD TUCK 2 The intellectual setting 33 STEPHEN MENN 3 European philosophical responses to non-European culture: China 87 D. E. MUNGELLO II Logic, language, and abstract objects 4 Logic in the seventeenth century: Preliminary remarks and the constituents of the proposition 103 GABRIEL NUCHELMANS 5 Proposition and judgement 118 GABRIEL NUCHELMANS 6 Deductive reasoning 132 GABRIEL NUCHELMANS Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 vi Contents 7 Method and the study of nature 147 PETER DEAR 8 Universals, essences, and abstract entities 178 MARTHA BOLTON 9 Individuation 212 UDO THIEL III God 10 The idea of God 265 JEAN-LUC MARION 11 Proofs of the existence of God 305 JEAN-ROBERT ARMOGATHE 12 The Cartesian dialectic of creation 331 THOMAS M. LENNON 13 The relation between theology and philosophy 363 NICHOLAS JOLLEY 14 The religious background of seventeenth-century philosophy 393 RICHARD POPKIN IV Body and the physical world 15 The scholastic background 425 ROGER ARIEW AND ALAN GABBEY 16 The occultist tradition and its critics 454 BRIAN COPENHAVER 17 Doctrines of explanation in late scholasticism and in the mechanical philosophy 513 STEVEN NADLER 18 New doctrines of body and its powers, place, and space 553 DANIEL GARBER, JOHN HENRY, LYNN JOY, AND ALAN GABBEY Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 Contents vii 19 Knowledge of the existence of body 624 CHARLES McCRACKEN 20 New doctrines of motion 649 ALAN GABBEY 21 Laws of nature 680 J. R. MILTON 22 The mathematical realm of nature 702 MICHAEL MAHONEY V Spirit 23 Soul and mind: Life and thought in the seventeenth century 759 DANIEL GARBER 24 Knowledge of the soul 796 CHARLES McCRACKEN 25 Mind—body problems 833 DANIEL GARBER AND MARGARET WILSON 26 Personal identity 868 UDO THIEL 27 The passions in metaphysics and the theory of action 913 SUSAN JAMES VOLUME II VI The understanding 28 The cognitive faculties 953 GARY HATFIELD 29 Theories of knowledge and belief 1003 MICHAEL AYERS Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008