Pierre Gassendi's Philosophy and Science
Biographical note
Saul Fisher Ph.D. (1997) in Philosophy, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, is Director of Fellowship Programs at the American Council of Learned Societies. His work on early modern philosophy and science focuses on hypotheses, explanation, the mechanical philosophy, and biological thought.
Readership
Those interested in intellectual history, early modern philosophy and science, and history of ideas in France and Europe.
Table of contents
Preface
Notice to the Reader
Foreword: A New, Integrated Picture of Gassendi
Introduction: Basses-Alpes Priest, Provençal Scientist, and Parisian Philosopher
PART I. A CONSTRUCTIVE SKEPTICIST THEORY OF EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE
1. The Skeptical Challenge, an Empiricist Response, and a Physicalist Theory of Perceptual Belief
2. The Theory of Signs: Cautious License for Truth-Like Empirical Belief
3. Empiricist Epistemic Warrant, and Probabilist and Anti-Essentialist Consequences
PART II. SCIENTIFIC METHOD: THE REGRESSUS DEMONSTRATIVUS AND HYPOTHETICAL REASONING
4. Methodological Pursuits: The Regressus Recast, Induction, and Probability
5. The Institutio Method in Practice: Gassendi’s Report of the Pascalian Experiment
6. A Method of Hypotheses and Hypothetical Reasoning
PART III. THE ATOMIST HYPOTHESIS
7. Smallest Particles: From Ancient Atomist and Minima Theories to Minima Naturae and Physical Corpuscularianism
8. The Mechanical Philosophy
9. Ultimate Particles and Essential Features
10. Atomic Motion, Causal Role, and Internal Impetus
11. Explanatory Uses of the Atomist Hypothesis
12. Atomism, the Mechanical Philosophy, and Empirical Viability
PART IV. ATOMISM AS HYPOTHESIS AND AS EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE
13. Atomism and Scientific Method
14. Is There a Circle in Gassendi’s Reasoning?
Bibliography
General Index
Notice to the Reader
Foreword: A New, Integrated Picture of Gassendi
Introduction: Basses-Alpes Priest, Provençal Scientist, and Parisian Philosopher
PART I. A CONSTRUCTIVE SKEPTICIST THEORY OF EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE
1. The Skeptical Challenge, an Empiricist Response, and a Physicalist Theory of Perceptual Belief
2. The Theory of Signs: Cautious License for Truth-Like Empirical Belief
3. Empiricist Epistemic Warrant, and Probabilist and Anti-Essentialist Consequences
PART II. SCIENTIFIC METHOD: THE REGRESSUS DEMONSTRATIVUS AND HYPOTHETICAL REASONING
4. Methodological Pursuits: The Regressus Recast, Induction, and Probability
5. The Institutio Method in Practice: Gassendi’s Report of the Pascalian Experiment
6. A Method of Hypotheses and Hypothetical Reasoning
PART III. THE ATOMIST HYPOTHESIS
7. Smallest Particles: From Ancient Atomist and Minima Theories to Minima Naturae and Physical Corpuscularianism
8. The Mechanical Philosophy
9. Ultimate Particles and Essential Features
10. Atomic Motion, Causal Role, and Internal Impetus
11. Explanatory Uses of the Atomist Hypothesis
12. Atomism, the Mechanical Philosophy, and Empirical Viability
PART IV. ATOMISM AS HYPOTHESIS AND AS EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE
13. Atomism and Scientific Method
14. Is There a Circle in Gassendi’s Reasoning?
Bibliography
General Index
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