Work · Empiricism, Enlightenment & Liberalism
Syntagma philosophicum
His posthumous system in logic, physics and ethics: Epicurus’ atoms and void, but created by God and finite in number, an immortal rational soul and a happiness of tranquil mind and painless body.
Introduction
The Syntagma philosophicum fills the first two volumes of Gassendi’s Opera omnia, published in Lyon in 1658, three years after his death. Its three parts follow the Epicurean division of philosophy. The logic teaches how to reach probable knowledge from the senses; the much longer physics presents atoms and void, motion, the heavens, living things and the soul, correcting Epicurus where he contradicts Christian teaching – God creates the atoms and gives them motion, providence governs the world, and the rational soul is immortal. The ethics makes tranquillity of mind and freedom from pain the goal of life. Through François Bernier’s French abridgement (1674–1678) the work became the main channel through which Epicurean atomism entered the natural philosophy of the late seventeenth century.
Connections
Builds on
- Letter to Menoeceusc. 300 BCE · Epicurus
- De rerum naturac. 55 BCE · Lucretius
Criticizes
- Physicsc. 350 BCE · Aristotle
More works by Pierre Gassendi
Sources: Wikidata
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