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The ablest and most successful attempt towards the revival of the physical and moral philosophy of Epicurus was made by Peter Gassendi,65 who deservedly holds an eminent place among the philosophers of the last century. He was born in the year 1592, near Digne, in Provence, and studied first at Digne, and afterwards at Aix, where, at the age of sixteen, he was appointed teacher of rhetoric, and at nineteen, professor of philosophy. Although the authori ty of Aristotle was still acknowledged in almost all public schools, Gassendi, after the example of Vives, Ramus, and others, ventured publicly to expose the defects of his system. The lectures which contained his censures of the Aristotelian philosophy, delivered in the indirect form of paradoxical problems, were published under the title of Exercitationes paradoxicæ adversus Aristotelem, Paradoxical Exercises against Aristotle." This work, at the same time that it gave great offence to those who still retained their predilection for Scholastic subtlety, obtained the author no small degree of reputation with several learned men, particularly with Nicolas Pieresc, the president of the university at Aix, through whose interest Gassendi was admitted to the degree of doctor of divinity, and created a canon of the church of Digne. A second volume of this work was afterwards published, the immediate design of which was to expose the futility of the Aristotelian logic. It was his first intention to pursue the plan still further, but the violent opposition which he met with from the zealous and powerful advocates for the authority of Aristotle, induced him to desist from all direct attacks upon his philosophy. He still, however, professed his attachment to the system of Epicurus, and defended it with great learning and ability.

1 In order to extend his acquaintance with the learned, Gassendi visited Holland, where his philosophical and literary merit soon procured him many admirers and friends: he formed an intimacy with the learned Mersenus, and wrote an elegant and judicious apology for him in reply to the censures of Robert Fludd, on the subject of the Mosaic philosophy, On his return to France, he was, through

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5 Sorbiere de Vit. Gass. Præf. Synt, Phil. Epic. Blount. p. 965. Bayle. 66 Amst. 1649. Hag. Comet. 1656. 8vo.

the interest of Cardinal Richlieu's brother, appointed Regius Professor of mathematics at Paris. In this university he also read lectures on astronomy, a science which he had studied from his earliest years. In this situation Gassendi acquired great popularity, and rosé to high expectations; but after a few years, the fatigues of his office brought an inflammation upon his lungs, which obliged him to leave Paris, and return to Digne. Here he obtained some relief, and came back to Paris: but his complaint shortly returned, and he died in the year 1655. Just before he expired, he laid his hand upon his heart, and remarking the feeble state of its pulsation, he said to his attendant, "See how frail is the life of man!"

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The sound judgment, extensive reading, and capacious memory of Gassendi, qualified him to attain great distinc tion among philosophers. He is ranked by Barrow among the most eminent mathematicians of the age, and mentioned with Galileo, Gilbert, and Des Cartes. His commentary on the tenth book of Diogenes Laertius is a sufficient proof of his erudition. With uncommon abilities for the task, he undertook to frame from Lucretius, Laertius, and other ancient writers, a consistent scheme of Epicurean doctrine, in which the phenomena of nature are immediately derived from the motion of primary atoms. But he was aware of the fundamental defect of this system, and added to it the important doctrine of a Divine Superintending Mind, from whom he conceived the first motion. and subsequent arrangement of atoms to have been derived, and whom he regarded as the wise Governor of the world. Gassendi strenuously maintained the Atomic doctrine in opposition to the fictions of the Cartesian philosophy, which were at that time obtaining great credit; and particularly asserted, in opposition to Des Cartes, the doctrine of a Vacuum. On the subject of morals, Gassendi explained the permanent pleasure or indolence of Epicurus, in a manner perfectly consistent with the purest precepts of virtue.

Gassendi wrote many treatises, which were, after his death, collected, and published in six volumes, by Sor

67 Lugd. 1658.

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biere Among these, one of the most valuable is his "Life of Epicurus," in which he undertakes to rescue that philosopher from the load of calumny under which his memory had for many ages lain, as well as to give a fair and impartial representation of his doctrine.

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The most celebrated followers of Gassendi were Francis Bernier, a physician of Montpelier, who, besides his Travels into the East," wrote an "Abridgment of Gas sendi's Philosophy "69 and Walter Charlton, an Englishman, who wrote a treatise entitled Physiologia EpicuroGassendo-Charletoniana, in which he attempts to esta blish natural science upon atomic principles. A similar treatise was published by G. B. De Sancto Romano, a physician at Paris, under the title of Physica á Scholusticis Tricis liberata," " Physics rescued from Scholastic Jargon."

The doctrine of atoms and a vacuum has been embraced by the most eminent modern philosophers. Hugyens applies it to explain the cause of gravitation, and Newton admits it into his theory of natural philosophy.*

68 Budd. Hist. Ph. p. 376. Morhoff. t. ii. p. 273. Lond. 1654.

69 Par. 1678, 71 Lugd. Bat. 1684. 12o.

* Vidend. Mercklin, Lindev. Renov. p. 554. Lettre critique et historique de la Vie Gassendi, Par. 1737. 12o. Desselii Bibl. Belg. Miræus de Scr. Sec. xvi. c. 237. Simon Bibl. crit. P. iv. p. 100. Stoll. Hist."' Lit. P. ii. c. 2. § 48. Gerard. de Uries. Diss. de Gassend, Trajand Rhen. 1691. Regnaut Entretiens d'Ariste et Eudoxe. Bayle Lettres, t.. P. 829.

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BOOK IX.

OF MODERN PHILOSOPHERS, WHO HAVE ATTEMPTED NEW METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING.

CHAP. I.

OF MODERN SCEPTICS.

FROM the first revival of letters, the philosophical world was, as we have seen, almost entirely occupied in restoring the Sectarian philosophy of the ancients. Learned men were either too diffident of their talents to suppose themselves capable of any new discoveries, too indolent to attempt them, or too much prejudiced in favour of antiquity to suppose it possible that any improvement could be made upon Grecian wisdom. During the course of several centuries, only a few enterprising or eccentric geniuses arose, who ventured to disengage themselves from the yoke of authority, and presumed to think it possible, that, with the same natural faculties which the ancients enjoyed, and with the example before them both of their successes and failures, new and important advances might be made in knowledge. Of these, some, availing themselves of all that was valuable in the stores of ancient philoso- phy, and at the same time exerting their own talents with a happy union of freedom and caution, made important improvements in philosophy. Whilst others, either on the one side through an excessive confidence in the powers of the human mind, or on the other through too much distrust of their weakness, forsook the straight path of rational inquiry, and lost themselves in the mazes of scepticism or enthusiasm. Vanity has inclined some to contradict every decision of philosophy, and hastily to conclude the

objections against received opinions, which their fertile imaginations have suggested, to be unanswerable; and it has prompted others to make high pretensions to Divine illumination, and to forsake plain and simple truth in the search of the obscurities of mysticism. On the contrary, a timid, indolent, or volatile temper has often disposed men to prefer the easy task of raising difficulties and cavils, to the more la more laborious, undertaking, of investigating truth continued course of patient study. And the same temper, united with a gloomy cast of imagination, has led many to mistake the dreams of mysticism for Divine wisdom. From these fountains have arisen the two principal errors of the human understanding, scepticism and enthusiasm.

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Modern Scepticism differs in many respects from ancient Pyrrhonism, and appears in several different forms. Some writers have wholly denied the power of the human understanding to investigate truth; and, with the ancient Pyrrhonists, have attempted to bring into discredit both the principles and the method of reasoning which have been commonly employed in the pursuit of knowledge. Others have busied themselves in starting doubts and difficulties on particular topics of inquiry, and endeavoured to involve every subject in uncertainty. Whilst others, more cautious than the rest, have made use of the weapons of scepticism against the hypothetical method of investigating truth, for the general purpose of curbing the arrogance of dogmatism, or with the particular design of turning the study of nature out of the channel of conjecture into that of experiment. In theology, scepticism is sometimes labouring, on the one hand, to overturn the sacred edifice of Divine revelation, and sometimes, on the other, to support the interest of superstition, or of fanaticism, by declaiming on the imbecility of human reason. Though our limits will not permit us to relate at full length the history of modern scepticism, we cannot, consistently with our plan, omit to mention some of the more celebrated Sceptics who have appeared since the revival of letters.

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VOL. II.

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