Pierre Gassendi 1592 to 1655 French Philosopher, scien8st, priest Insisted on priority of material world even to humans Rene Descartes, 1596 to 1650 French Philospher, mathemacian Walter Charleton. 1619 to 1707 English theologian, natural historian John Evelyn. 1620 to 1706 English gardener, diarist John Evelyn’s 1661 pamphlet • Fumifugium, or, The inconvenience of the aer and smoak of London dissipated together with some remedies humbly proposed by J.E. esq. to His Sacred MajesCe, and to the Parliament now assembled Robert Boyle. 1627 to 1691. Irish chemist/alchemist Isaac Newton John Ray. 1627 to 1705 English naturalist • Documented and described the plants of England. • Saw fossils as remnants of once living creatures. • Works of nature as evidence of God Natural Theology • God’s design was sought in studying nature. • No great war between science and religion. • God created the laws of Nature; it was man’s calling to make use of them. Biology and Materialism • Biology was a major source of material implicang God’s design in nature because organisms appeared fiVed to do specific things according to their aributes. De La MeVrie. 1709 to 1751. French physician, philosopher. • Man seen as not fundamentally different from animals. • Like animals they could be understood as complex machines • Mind was simply a func8on of the brain • All is maer and mo8on Baron d’Holbach. 1723 to 1789. French/German philosopher The system of Nature. An en8rely naturalis8c presentaon of nature. David Hartley 1705 to 1757. English philosopher • Agreed with Locke that the mind is a blank slate that is filled by experience. • Everything he wrote implied a deep determinism that threatened the idea of free will David Hume b Scotland 1711–1776. Joseph Priestley. 1733 to 1804. English Chemist, philosopher • Psychology = physiology of nervous system. • Suggested that thought might simply be an aspect added to maer by the creator Erasmus Darwin. 1731 to 1802 english physician. • Darwins grandfather. • Zoonomia. Presaged some of Lamarck’s ideas on evoluon. • Could life have arisen from a single filament created by God? Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. 1707 to 1788. French Biologist • A commiVed materialist with profound interest in Biology. • Suggested that life was composed of organic molecules. William Paley. 1743 to 1805. Chris8an apologist. Natural theology • Nature as proof of God’s design. • Highly influen8al book whose style Darwin copied in his “origin” William Lawrence • Denied vitalism or any vital forces. • Saw order as hierarchically arranged such that each level operates under slightly different rules (emergence) Lamarck. 1744 to 1829. French Biologist • Founder of evoluon. • Strict materialist. • Early conceptualisaons of adaptaon. .