Physics at Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Leiden: Philosophy and the New Science in the University

2 result of the attitudes characteristic of the small group of permanent residents at the schools, the academic scholars. This conservatism, however, was not everywhere equally efficacious. In the sixteenth century, the universities of northern Italy, Pad

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ARCHIVES INTERNA TIONALES D'HISTOIRE DES IDEES INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE HISTORY OF IDEAS

Series Minor

11 EDWARD G. RUESTOW

PHYSICS AT SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LEIDEN: PHILOSOPHY AND THE NEW SCIENCE IN THE UNIVERSITY

Directors: P. Dibon (Paris) and R. Popkin (Univ. of California, La Jolla) Editorial Board: J. Aubin (Paris) ;J. Collins (St. Louis Univ.); P. Costabel (Paris); A. Crombie (Oxford); 1. Dambska (Cracow); H. de la Fontaine-Verwey (Amsterdam); H. Gadamer (Heidelberg); H. Gouhier (Paris) ;T. Gregory (Rome); T. E. Jessop (Hull); P. O. Kristeller (Columbia Univ.); Elisabeth Labrousse (Paris); A. Lossky (Los Angeles); S. Lindroth (Upsala); P. Mesnard (Tours) ;J. Orcibal (Paris); 1. S. Revah t (Paris) ;J. Roger (Paris); H. Rowen (Rutgers Univ., N.Y.); G. Sebba (Emory Univ., Atlanta); R. Shackleton (Oxford) ;J. Tans (Groningen); G. Tonelli (Binghamton, N.Y.).

PHYSICS AT SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH-CENTUR Y LEIDEN: PHILOSOPHY AND THE NEW SCIENCE IN THE UNIVERSITY by

EDWARD G. R UESTOW



MARTINUS NIJHOFF / THE HAGUE / 1973

Dedicated to CLARA FRANCES AND PAUL ERNEST RUESTOW

with much affection

© 1973 by Martinus Nijhojf, The Hague, Netherlands All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form ISBN-I3: 978-90-247-1557-2 DOl: 10.1007/978-94-010-2463-1

e-ISBN-I3: 978-94-010-2463-1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

vn

Acknowledgements CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION: A NEW UNIVERSITY AND THE CHALLENGE OF THE NEW SCmNCE

1

CHAPTER II. FRANCO BURGERSDUCK: LATE SCHOLASTICISM AT LEIDEN

14

CHAPTER III. TuMULT OVER CARTESIANISM

34

CHAPTER IV. JOANNES DE RAEY: PHYSICS AT LEIDEN

THE

INTRODUCTION OF CARTESIAN

CHAPTER V. PASSING CRISES, ENDURING DISAGREEMENT CHAPTER VI.

THE PRACTICE OF PHILOSOPHY

61 73

89

CHAPTER VII. 's GRAVESANDE AND MUSSCHENBROEK: NEWTONIANISM AT LEIDEN

113

CHAPTER VIII. CONCLUSION: SCmNCE, PHILOSOPHY AND PEDAGOGY

140

Selected Bibliography

155

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Begun as a dissertation at Indiana University, this study has remained

heavily indebted to the sympathetic criticism of Richard S. Westfall. The suggestions that he has offered that have contributed to the shaping of this book could never be completely enumerated, and I can only acknowledge that I have taken great advantage of his continuing interest. I am also beholden to Paul Miller of the University of Colorado, whose critical reading of Chapter IT did much to rectify my understanding of the Aristotelian and scholastic traditions. If that understanding may in places still seem wanting, it can be attributed only to my own obstinacy. lowe particular gratitude as well to Prof. Dr. S. van der Woude, Librarian of the University Library of Amsterdam, for permitting me to peruse the catalogue he is compiling of Dutch university disputations in European libraries, and to P. W. Tiele of the University of Leiden Library staff, who was always a source of the most ready and willing assistance. Finally, the financial support that allowed me to carry out this study was provided