Article ID: CBB063866130

A “Calvinist” Theory of Matter? Burgersdijk and Descartes on Res extensa (2018)

unapi

In the Dutch debates on Cartesianism of the 1640s, a minority believed that some Cartesian views were in fact Calvinist ones. The paper argues that, among others, a likely precursor of this position is the Aristotelian Franco Burgersdijk (1590-1635), who held a reductionist view of accidents and of the essential extension of matter on Calvinist grounds. It seems unlikely that Descartes was unaware of these views. The claim is that Descartes had two aims in his Replies to Arnauld: to show the compatibility of res extensa and the Catholic transubstantiation but also to differentiate the res extensa from some views of matter explicitly defended by some Calvinists. The association with Calvinism will be eventually used polemically against Cartesianism, for example in France. The paper finally suggests that, notwithstanding the points of conflict, the affinities between the theologically relevant theories of accidents, matter and extension ultimately facilitated the dissemination of Cartesianism among the Calvinists.

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Authors & Contributors
Strazzoni, Andrea
Schmaltz, Tad M.
Ariew, Roger
Koops, Willem
Smith, Kurt
Lo, Melissa Ming-Hwei
Concepts
Cartesianism
Natural philosophy
Philosophy
Historiography
Calvinism
Empiricism
Time Periods
17th century
18th century
Early modern
Renaissance
Medieval
16th century
Places
Europe
Netherlands
Utrecht (Netherlands)
Leiden (Netherlands)
Scotland
Italy
Institutions
Universiteit Utrecht
Académie des Sciences, Paris
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