Corpuscularianism

Corpuscularianism

Corpuscularianism is a physical theory that supposed all matter to be composed of minute particles, which became important in the Seventeenth century. Among the leading corpuscularians were Rene Descartes, Robert Boyle, and John Locke.[1]

Corpuscularianism is similar to the theory of atomism, except that where atoms were supposed to be indivisible, corpuscles could in principle be divided. In this manner, for example, it was theorized that mercury could penetrate into metals and modify their inner structure, a step on the way towards the production of gold by transmutation. Corpuscularianism was associated by its leading proponents with the idea that some of the properties that objects appear to have are artifacts of the perceiving mind: "secondary" qualities as distinguished from "primary" qualities.[2] Corpuscularianism stayed a dominant theory for centuries and was blended with alchemy by early scientists such as Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton in the 17th century.

The philosopher Thomas Hobbes used corpuscularianism to justify his political theories in Leviathan.[3][4] It was used by Newton in his development of the corpuscular theory of light, while Boyle used it to develop his mechanical corpuscular philosophy, which laid the foundations for the Chemical Revolution.[5]

Alchemical Corpuscularianism

William Newman traces the origins from the fourth book of Aristotle Meteorology.[6] (The "dry" and "moist" exhalations of Aristotle become the (alchemical) 'sulfur' and 'mercury' of the eighth-century Islamic alchemist, Jābir ibn Hayyān (721–815), and others.) Through the thirteenth-century work, the Summa perfectionis of Geber[7] (the Latinised form of Jabir), an alchemist claiming to be the original Jabir but who may have actually been an Italian Franciscan[3] or a Spaniard,[8][9] contains a theory where unified sulfur and mercury corpuscles, differing in purity, size, and relative proportions, form the basis of a much more complicated process.[10]

Sources

  1. ^ Brown, Sable (2005-01-01). Philosophy. Lotus Press. pp. 53–. ISBN 9788189093525. http://books.google.com/books?id=mOUoXWBavKUC&pg=PA53. Retrieved 8 June 2010. 
  2. ^ The Mechanical Philosophy - Early modern 'atomism' ("corpuscularianism" as it was known)
  3. ^ a b Levere, Trevor, H. (2001). Transforming Matter – A History of Chemistry from Alchemy to the Buckyball. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-6610-3. 
  4. ^ Corpuscularianism - Philosophical Dictionary
  5. ^ Ursula Klein (July 2007), "Styles of Experimentation and Alchemical Matter Theory in the Scientific Revolution", Metascience (Springer) 16 (2): 247–256 [247], doi:10.1007/s11016-007-9095-8, ISSN 1467-9981 
  6. ^ Late medieval and early modern corpuscular matter theories Volume 1 of Medieval and Early Modern Science, Christoph Lüthy, J. E. Murdoch, William R. Newman BRILL, 2001 ISBN 9789004115163
  7. ^ Newman, William Royall (2006). Atoms and alchemy: chymistry and the experimental origins of the scientific revolution. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226576978. http://books.google.com/books?id=hy5sxK7pHGIC. Retrieved 8 June 2010. 
  8. ^ Fredric L. Holmes and Trevor H. Levere. Instruments and Experimentation in the History of Chemistry. MIT Press, 2000. ISBN 9780262082822.
  9. ^ Moran, Bruce T. (2005), Distilling knowledge: alchemy, chemistry, and the scientific revolution, Harvard University Press, p. 146, ISBN 0674014952, "a corpuscularian tradition in alchemy stemming from the speculations of the medieval author Geber (Jabir ibn Hayyan)" 
  10. ^ The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science JOHN A. NORRIS AMBIX, Vol. 53, No. 1, March 2006, 43–65 © Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry 2006 doi:10.1179/174582306X93183

See also


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • corpuscularianism — noun The postulate that all physical bodies possess an inner and outer layer of minute particles or corpuscles.<ref name= Levere ></ref> See Also: corpuscle …   Wiktionary

  • corpuscularianism — The variety of atomism especially associated with Boyle, and expounded in his Sceptical Chemist (1661) and The Origin and Form of Qualities (1666). Boyle held that all material substances are composed of minute corpuscles, themselves possessing… …   Philosophy dictionary

  • corpuscles — corpuscularianism …   Philosophy dictionary

  • corpuscularean — corpuscularianism …   Philosophy dictionary

  • corpuscularian — corpuscularianism …   Philosophy dictionary

  • Atomism — (from ancient Greek atomos, meaning uncuttable ) is a natural philosophy that developed in several ancient traditions. The atomists theorized that the natural world consists of two fundamental parts: indivisible atoms and empty void. According to …   Wikipedia

  • Daniel Sennert — Daniel Sennert. Daniel Sennert (November 25, 1572–July 21, 1637) was a renowned German physician and a prolific academic writer, especially in the field of Alchemy or Chemistry. He held the position of professor of medicine at the University of… …   Wikipedia

  • Berkeley, George — George Berkeley David Berman BACKGROUND AND EARLY WORK George Berkeley was born on 12 March 1685 in Co. Kilkenny, where he spent his early years. His father was from England, his mother (very probably) was born in Ireland.1 After attending… …   History of philosophy

  • Alchemy — Alchemist redirects here. For other uses, see Alchemist (disambiguation). For other uses, see Alchemy (disambiguation). Page from alchemic treatise of Ramon Llull, 16th century Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early… …   Wikipedia

  • The World (Descartes) — The World , originally titled Le Monde and also called Treatise on the Light , is a book by René Descartes (1596 ndash;1650). Written between 1629 and 1633, it contains a relatively complete version of his philosophy, from method, to metaphysics …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”