chapter nine

CARTESIANS, GASSENDISTS, AND CENSORSHIP

During the second half of the seventeenth century, Cartesians suffered a series of condemnations issuing from various authorities in France. The condemnations aimed at several fundamental propositions of corpuscu- larianism and the mechanical philosophy, such as the denial of substan- tial forms and real qualities. Also condemned was the Cartesian theory of matter and place, that is, the doctrine that extension is the principal attribute of matter, and some of its consequences, namely, the indefinite extension of the world and the rejection of the void.1 These propositions were deemed incompatible with some of the mysteries of Catholicism and thus disruptive to the faith and to the public order. Moreover, it was well known—and commonly argued at the time—that Gassendism, the revival of Epicurean atomism, was for similar reasons equally incompat- ible with the same mysteries, as was the Gassendist doctrine of matter and space. But the Gassendists did not suffer the same fate as Cartesians; they were not condemned officially. But why were they not? From the point of view of the authorities, there should not be anything to choose between René Descartes and his followers and Pierre Gassendi and his followers. Nor if social causes are to be invoked to account for the asym- metry of condemnations, will they be found at the surface. After all, Descartes and Gassendi, two Frenchmen from the Provinces, traveled in the same circles—they were both friends and correspondents of Marin Mersenne—though Gassendi’s circle also included the libertins érudits. Unlike Descartes, Gassendi actually published an anti-Aristotelian work as early as . Moreover, although Gassendi was a priest and professor of philosophy at the Collège d’Aix, he was removed from his position when the Jesuits took over the college in . Descartes, on the other hand, was taught by the Jesuits of La Flèche for more than eight years and, in spite of his seemingly harsh pronouncements about his education in the Discourse on Method and his war with the Jesuit Pierre Bourdin in the s, he generally maintained good relations with them throughout

1 See chapters  and .  chapter nine his adult life.2 Later in life, in , Gassendi was nominated as Profes- sor of Mathematics at the Collège Royal, but because of ill-health, he taught there only a year. One cannot underestimate Gassendi’s fame at the time, but his royal connection would seem to have been counterbal- anced by the handsome pension bestowed on Descartes by the King in . In the second half of the seventeenth century Descartes and Gassendi gained followers from all walks of life. Perhaps Descartes’ followers were predominantly Jansenists and Oratorians and Gassendi’s were Jesuits and others, but those facts themselves, if they are facts at all, would require much exposition and explanation: what was there about Descartes and Cartesianism that might have attracted Jansenists and Oratorians, but not Jesuits?3 Similar questions may be asked about Gassendi and the Gassendists. Superficially, there would seem to be little to choose between the two challengers to the dominant Aristotelian intellectual tradition. So let us examine the two cases in greater detail.

Cartesians

With the Jesuits conspiring in the background, as was allegedly their fashion, the Catholic church in  put Descartes’ works on the Index of Prohibited Books with the notation, donec corrigantur—until corrected. Descartes had been dead for thirteen years. It was not likely that he would correct his works; so the prohibition was effective. Antoine Arnauld, complaining about the placing of Descartes’ works on the Index,wrote: “it is true that the prohibition was only donec corrigantur.Butthatcould not be done. Since there is no indication of what is to be corrected, itisthesamethingasifthebookswereprohibitedabsolutely.”4 Thus, theprohibitionwasaseffectiveastheCatholicChurchcouldmakeit. However, the Church did not have any authority in the Protestant world;

2 See chapters  and . 3 It is easy to overstate the affinity between Port-Royal and Descartes. Steven Nadler reminds us that “the majority of those connected with Port-Royal professed an open hostility towards Cartesian philosophy. In fact, Arnauld appears to be one of the very few Port-Royalists of his generation to have had any sympathy towards this new philosophy,” Nadler , p. . One can also find Cartesian sympathizers among the Jesuits both during Descartes’ life and after. Thus, pronouncements about Jansenist Cartesians must be handled carefully. 4 Letter  to du Vaucel, Arnauld , vol. , p. .