Le Monde as a System of Natural Philosophy and Gambit in the Field
This chapter concludes the detailed analysis of Le Monde, begun in the previous two chapters. It has three main goals: Firstly, Le Monde is examined as a competitive bid for supremacy in the natural philosophical field. This is done by viewing it in relat
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Le Monde as a System of Natural Philosophy and Gambit in the Field
11.1 Le Monde as Competitive Gambit in the Natural Philosophical Field In Chap. 2, we discussed the notion of a ‘system’ of natural philosophy and explored the ideal aim of achieving a good system. We were able there to hint at some of the usual techniques for constructing and solidifying a natural philosophy as systematic. It was also clear that all the modes and foci of contestation we discussed in that chapter regarding our model of natural philosophizing ipso facto supplied the typical avenues by which actors could advocate or contest the degree of systematicity claimed in any given case. Contesting in the field and building or attacking systematicity were two sides of the same disciplinary coin. This chapter looks at both issues in Le Monde. Note, however, that in so doing, we shall not revisit the more conventional avenues of ‘system-binding’ offered by metaphysical and theological elaboration. We have already surveyed Descartes’ situation in relation to these and Le Monde: He had to hand a voluntarist theological legitimation of his dynamics and laws of nature, which does appear in the text, as well as the rudiments of a metaphysically argued ontological dualism, present between the lines, but not offered as a systematic legitimation for his claims, as it would be in its mature form in the Principles. Instead, we concentrate here on more delicate issues of system and gambit inside the text of Le Monde as we have studied it in the preceding two chapters. First, in this Section we shall exploit our previous textual and genealogical analysis to assess Le Monde as an intended gambit in the natural philosophical contest of his time, viewing Le Monde in relation to key natural philosophical aspirations and strategies of similar contemporary actors, particularly Kepler and Beeckman. Like Descartes, they were attempting to displace Aristotelianism, install some version of realist Copernicanism, and create alternative hegemonic natural philosophical syntheses. Then, turning to the issue of systematicity in Sect. 11.2, we first reprise our general concepts of the ‘core’, ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal’ dimensions of a natural philosophical system, and the ‘system-binding’ moves that are used to articulate the 525 J. Schuster, Descartes-Agonistes: Physico-mathematics, Method & CorpuscularMechanism 1618-33, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 27, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-4746-3_11, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
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Le Monde as a System of Natural Philosophy and Gambit in the Field
dimensions one to another, as outlined, Sect. 2.5.5. These are then applied to the case of Le Monde. Finally, Sect. 11.3 canvasses a few initial ways in which in the Principia Descartes repaired problems in Le Monde and articulated its strengths. This will lead to the conclusion that we require a more sustained analysis of system and gambit in the Principia itself, to which we turn in Chap. 12. Chapters 9 and 10 have set out the underlying concept
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