Gassendi and the Low Countries: Introduction

Abstract

This introduction summarises the nature of the strong intellectual links existing between the French philosopher Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655) and the Low Countries. It retraces the main steps of his trip to the Spanish Low Countries and the Dutch Republic in 1629, and the importance of this trip for the development of his philosophy, as well as the epistolary network with his correspondents from that area, especially in the field of astronomy. Scholars in the Low Countries were receptive to atomistic theories, empiricism, and anti-dogmatism, all of which are central to Gassendi’s philosophy. Gassendi’s philosophy also provided arguments against Descartes’s metaphysics, and helped disseminate Galileo’s mechanics in the Low Countries. Gassendi’s influence in the Low Countries lasted beyond his death, as can be seen in the philosophy of Spinoza and Bayle.