#cartesianism

Wolferd Senguerd – Scientist of the Day

Wolferd Senguerd was a Dutch natural philosopher and professor of physics at Leiden University.  

Do these illustrations seem similar to you? They are from two 17th century editions of Renee Descartes’ Treatise of man. While both images have eyes in them, and both illustrate Descartes’ ideas on how the eye perceives different distances, they are actually more different than alike!

The copper engraving on the top is from Florentius Schuyl’s 1662 Latin translation. Two things stand out. First of all, it’s an anatomical drawing. Second, it features a realistic landscape with a castle and a fire at different distances from the eye. Now look at the image below it. This is a woodcut by Gerard van Gutschoven from the 1664 French edition. In contrast to Schuyl’s drawing, Gutschoven’s is diagrammatic and focuses on Descartes’ mechanistic theory of brain function.

 So what exactly is going on? Light from the objects (labeled A,B,C) enters the eye and forms visual images (1,3,5) on the retinas. These are connected to the walls of the ventricle by hollow tubes representing the optic nerve (2 4, 6, 7).  Animal spirits then convey the image through the tubes to the pear-shaped pineal gland (H), which initiates the motor stimulus.

from Discourse on the Method (1637) 

Abbe de Vallemont – Scientist of the Day

Pierre Le Lorrain, the abbé de Vallemont, was born Sep. 10, 1649.

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY

Fustel de Coulanges on the Linkage of Facts as Historical Truth

Tuesday 18 March 2025 is the 195th anniversary of the birth of French historian Numa-Denis Fustel de Coulanges (18 March 1830 – 12 September 1889), who was born in Paris on this date in 1830.

Fustel de Coulanges is primarily remembered for his The Ancient City, but he wrote a number of longer works on French history, including his multi-volume History of the Political Institutions of Ancient France. Fustel de Coulanges thought of himself as a scientific historian and even as a Cartesian historian, and he brought a desire for Cartesian clarity to his historical formulations, but his ambition for history to be truly scientific remains unrealized. 

Quora:              https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ 

Discord:           https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD

Links:               https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/

Newsletter:     http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/

Text post:        https://geopolicraticus.substack.com/p/fustel-de-coulanges-on-the-linkage

Video:              https://youtu.be/i4PFmrCnDxc

Podcast:           https://open.spotify.com/episode/2TiBk8XzCF5gHYQJmTUtYI?si=alsc7KLDR7qSZfQo7m0bEg  

from Discourse on the Method by René Descartes (1637) 

Obey the laws and customs of the country... governing in all other matters according to the most moderate and least extreme opinions - the opinions commonly accepted in practice by the most sensible. 

Be as firm and decisive in actions as possible, and follow even the most doubtful opinions, once adopted, with no less constancy than if they had been quite certain. 

Try always to master the self rather than fortune, and change one’s desires rather than the order of the world.