Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of contributors
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction and Notes on How to Use This Work
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology
- Descartes' Life and Works
- Annotated Bibliography
- ENTRIES
- Abstraction versus Exclusion
- Analogy
- Analysis versus Synthesis
- Anatomy and Physiology
- Angel
- Animal
- Animal Spirits
- Aquinas, Thomas (ca.1225–1274)
- Arnauld, Antoine (1612–1694)
- Astell, Mary (1666–1731)
- Atom
- Attribute
- Augustine, Aurelius (354–430)
- Automaton
- Bacon, Francis (1561–1626)
- Baillet, Adrien (1649–1706)
- Balzac, Jean-Louis Guez de (1595–1654)
- Basso, Sebastian (SÉBASTIEN BASSON) (dates unknown)
- Bayle, François (1622–1709)
- Bayle, Pierre (1647–1706)
- Beaugrand, Jean de (1595–1640)
- Beeckman, Isaac (1588–1637)
- Being, Formal versus Objective
- Bérulle, Pierre de (1575–1629)
- Beverwijck, Johan Van (1594–1647)
- Body
- Body, Proof of the Existence of
- Bourdin, Pierre (1595–1653)
- Boyle, Robert (1627–1691)
- Brasset, Henri (1595–after 1657)
- Brégy, Nicolas Léonor Flesselles de (ca.1615–1689)
- Buitendyck (dates unknown)
- Burman, Frans (Franciscus) (1628–1679)
- Calvinism
- Carcavi, Pierre de (ca.1600–1684)
- Cartesianism
- Caterus, Johannes (Johan Kater or de Kater) (ca.1590–1655)
- Cause
- Cavendish, Margaret (Duchess of Newcastle) (1623–1673)
- Cavendish, William (Marquess of Newcastle) (1592–1676)
- Certainty
- Chanut, Hector-Pierre (1601–1662)
- Charlet, Étienne (1570–1652)
- Charleton, Walter (1619–1707)
- Charron, Pierre (1541–1603)
- Christina, Queen of Sweden (1626–1689)
- Circle, Cartesian
- Clarity and Distinctness
- Clauberg, Johannes (1622–1665)
- Clavius, Christopher (1538–1612)
- Clerselier, Claude (1614–1684)
- Cogito Ergo Sum
- Colvius, Andreas (1594–1671)
- Comments on a Certain Broadsheet
- Common Notion
- Common Sense
- Compendium of Music
- Concurrence versus Conservation, Divine
- Conimbricenses (COIMBRANS)
- Conservation of Motion, Principle of
- Containment, Eminent versus Formal
- Conversation with Burman
- Conway, Anne (1630?-1679)
- Cordemoy, Géraud de (1626–1684)
- Correspondence
- Cosmological Argument
- Cosmology
- Cudworth, Ralph (1617–1688)
- Daniel, Gabriel (1649–1728)
- Debeaune (de Beaune), Florimond (1601–1652)
- Deduction
- Definition
- Desargues, Girard (1591–1661)
- Description of the Human Body
- Desgabets, Robert (1610–1678)
- Digby, Kenelm (1603–1665)
- Dinet, Jacques (1584–1653)
- Dioptrics
- Discourse on Method
- Distinction (Real, Modal, and Rational)
- Divisibility
- Doubt
- Dreams, Descartes’ Three
- Du Hamel (or Duhamel), Jean (?–1705)
- Dualism
- Earth, Motion of the
- Element
- Elisabeth, Princess of Bohemia (1618–1680)
- Enumeration
- Error, Theodicies of
- Essence
- Eternal Truth
- Eustachius a Sancto Paulo (Eustache Asseline) (1573–1640)
- Existence
- Experiment
- Explanation
- Extension
- Extrinsic Denomination
- Faculty
- Faith, Religious
- Falsity, Material
- Fermat, Pierre de (1607–1665)
- Fonseca, Pedro da (1528–1599)
- Force and Determination
- Form, Substantial
- Foucher, Simon (1644–1696)
- Free Will
- Freinshemius (Johannes Freinsheim) (1608–1660)
- Fromondus, Libertus (Libert Froidment) (1587–1653)
- Galilei, Galileo (1564–1642)
- Gassendi, Pierre (1592–1655)
- Geometrical Exposition
- Geometry
- Geometry
- Geulincx, Arnold (1624–1669)
- Gibieuf, Guillaume (1583–1650)
- God
- Golius, Jacob (1596–1667)
- Grandamy, Jacques (1588–1672)
- Gravity
- Habit
- Happiness
- Harvey, William (1578–1657)
- Heart
- Heereboord, Adriaan (1613–1661)
- Hobbes, Thomas (1588–1679)
- Hogelande, Cornelis Van (ca.1590–1662)
- Holenmerism (Holenmerianism)
- Huet, Pierre-Daniel (1630–1721)
- Human Being
- Huygens, Christiaan (1629–1695)
- Huygens, Constantijn (1596–1687)
- Hydrostatics
- Hyperaspistes
- Idea
- Imagination
- Individuation
- Inertia
- Infinite versus Indefinite
- Intellect
- Jansenism
- Jesuit
- Judgment
- Kepler, Johannes (1571–1630)
- Knowledge (Scientia)
- La Forge, Louis de (1632–1666)
- La Grange, Jean-Baptiste de (ca.1641 – after 1680)
- Lamy, Bernard (1640-1715)
- Lamy, François (1636–1711)
- Language
- Law of Nature
- Le Bossu, René (1631–1680)
- Le Grand, Antoine (1629–1699)
- Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1646–1716)
- Light
- Locke, John (1632–1704)
- Luynes, Duc de (Louis-Charles d'Albert) (1620–1690)
- Machine
- Magnetism
- Malebranche, Nicolas (1638–1715)
- Mathematics
- Mathesis Universalis
- Mechanics
- Medicine
- Meditations on First Philosophy
- Memory
- Mersenne, Marin (1588–1648)
- Mesland, Denis (1615–1672)
- Metaphysics
- Meteors
- Method
- Meyssonnier, Lazare (1611–1673)
- Mind
- Mode
- More, Henry (1614–1687)
- Morin, Jean-Baptiste (1583–1656)
- Motion
- Mydorge, Claude (1585–1647)
- Native Intelligence (Ingenium)
- Nature
- Newton, Isaac (1642–1727)
- Noël, Étienne (1581–1659)
- Objections and Replies
- Ontological Argument
- Optics
- Oratorian
- Pascal, Blaise (1623–1662)
- Passion
- Passions of the Soul
- Pelagianism
- Perception
- Person
- Petau, Denis (1583–1652)
- Philosophy
- Physico-Mathematics
- Physics
- Picot, Claude (1601–1668)
- Pineal Gland
- Place, External versus Internal
- Plempius (Plemp), Vopiscus Fortunatus (1601–1671)
- Plenum
- Poisson, Nicolas-Joseph (1637–1710)
- Pollot, Alphonse (ca.1602–1668)
- Prejudice
- Primitive Notion
- Principles of Philosophy
- Private Thoughts
- Quality, Real
- Quality, Sensible
- Quantity
- Rainbow
- Rarefaction and Condensation
- Reason
- Régis, Pierre-Sylvain (1632–1707)
- Regius, Henricus (Hendrik de Roy) (1598–1679)
- Reneri, Henricus (Henri Regnier) (1593–1639)
- Representation
- Roberval, Gilles Personne de (1602–1675)
- Rohault, Jacques (1618–1672)
- Rosicrucian
- Rubius, Antonius (Rubio, Antonio) (1548–1615)
- Rules for the Direction of the Mind
- Scholasticism
- Schoock, Martinus (1614–1669)
- Scotus, John Duns (1265?–1308)
- Search for Truth by the Natural Light
- Sensation
- Shape
- Silhon, Jean de (1596–1667)
- Simple Nature
- Soul, Immortality of the
- Species, Intentional
- Spinoza, Benedict (Baruch) (1632–1677)
- The Stampioen Affair
- Suárez, Francisco (1548–1617)
- Substance
- Subtle Matter
- Syllogism
- Thought
- Time
- Toletus, Franciscus (Francisco de Toledo) (1532–1596)
- Transubstantiation
- Treatise on Man
- True and Immutable Nature
- Truth
- Universal
- Vacuum
- Vanini, Giulio Cesare (1585–1619)
- Vatier, Antoine (1591–1659)
- Villebressieu (Ville-Bressieu, or Ville-Bressieux), Étienne de (ca. 1607–1674)
- Virtue
- Voetius, Gysbertus (1589–1676)
- Vorstius, Adolph (1597–1663)
- Vortex
- Wax
- The World (or Treatise on Light)
- Index
- References
Element
from ENTRIES
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2016
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of contributors
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction and Notes on How to Use This Work
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology
- Descartes' Life and Works
- Annotated Bibliography
- ENTRIES
- Abstraction versus Exclusion
- Analogy
- Analysis versus Synthesis
- Anatomy and Physiology
- Angel
- Animal
- Animal Spirits
- Aquinas, Thomas (ca.1225–1274)
- Arnauld, Antoine (1612–1694)
- Astell, Mary (1666–1731)
- Atom
- Attribute
- Augustine, Aurelius (354–430)
- Automaton
- Bacon, Francis (1561–1626)
- Baillet, Adrien (1649–1706)
- Balzac, Jean-Louis Guez de (1595–1654)
- Basso, Sebastian (SÉBASTIEN BASSON) (dates unknown)
- Bayle, François (1622–1709)
- Bayle, Pierre (1647–1706)
- Beaugrand, Jean de (1595–1640)
- Beeckman, Isaac (1588–1637)
- Being, Formal versus Objective
- Bérulle, Pierre de (1575–1629)
- Beverwijck, Johan Van (1594–1647)
- Body
- Body, Proof of the Existence of
- Bourdin, Pierre (1595–1653)
- Boyle, Robert (1627–1691)
- Brasset, Henri (1595–after 1657)
- Brégy, Nicolas Léonor Flesselles de (ca.1615–1689)
- Buitendyck (dates unknown)
- Burman, Frans (Franciscus) (1628–1679)
- Calvinism
- Carcavi, Pierre de (ca.1600–1684)
- Cartesianism
- Caterus, Johannes (Johan Kater or de Kater) (ca.1590–1655)
- Cause
- Cavendish, Margaret (Duchess of Newcastle) (1623–1673)
- Cavendish, William (Marquess of Newcastle) (1592–1676)
- Certainty
- Chanut, Hector-Pierre (1601–1662)
- Charlet, Étienne (1570–1652)
- Charleton, Walter (1619–1707)
- Charron, Pierre (1541–1603)
- Christina, Queen of Sweden (1626–1689)
- Circle, Cartesian
- Clarity and Distinctness
- Clauberg, Johannes (1622–1665)
- Clavius, Christopher (1538–1612)
- Clerselier, Claude (1614–1684)
- Cogito Ergo Sum
- Colvius, Andreas (1594–1671)
- Comments on a Certain Broadsheet
- Common Notion
- Common Sense
- Compendium of Music
- Concurrence versus Conservation, Divine
- Conimbricenses (COIMBRANS)
- Conservation of Motion, Principle of
- Containment, Eminent versus Formal
- Conversation with Burman
- Conway, Anne (1630?-1679)
- Cordemoy, Géraud de (1626–1684)
- Correspondence
- Cosmological Argument
- Cosmology
- Cudworth, Ralph (1617–1688)
- Daniel, Gabriel (1649–1728)
- Debeaune (de Beaune), Florimond (1601–1652)
- Deduction
- Definition
- Desargues, Girard (1591–1661)
- Description of the Human Body
- Desgabets, Robert (1610–1678)
- Digby, Kenelm (1603–1665)
- Dinet, Jacques (1584–1653)
- Dioptrics
- Discourse on Method
- Distinction (Real, Modal, and Rational)
- Divisibility
- Doubt
- Dreams, Descartes’ Three
- Du Hamel (or Duhamel), Jean (?–1705)
- Dualism
- Earth, Motion of the
- Element
- Elisabeth, Princess of Bohemia (1618–1680)
- Enumeration
- Error, Theodicies of
- Essence
- Eternal Truth
- Eustachius a Sancto Paulo (Eustache Asseline) (1573–1640)
- Existence
- Experiment
- Explanation
- Extension
- Extrinsic Denomination
- Faculty
- Faith, Religious
- Falsity, Material
- Fermat, Pierre de (1607–1665)
- Fonseca, Pedro da (1528–1599)
- Force and Determination
- Form, Substantial
- Foucher, Simon (1644–1696)
- Free Will
- Freinshemius (Johannes Freinsheim) (1608–1660)
- Fromondus, Libertus (Libert Froidment) (1587–1653)
- Galilei, Galileo (1564–1642)
- Gassendi, Pierre (1592–1655)
- Geometrical Exposition
- Geometry
- Geometry
- Geulincx, Arnold (1624–1669)
- Gibieuf, Guillaume (1583–1650)
- God
- Golius, Jacob (1596–1667)
- Grandamy, Jacques (1588–1672)
- Gravity
- Habit
- Happiness
- Harvey, William (1578–1657)
- Heart
- Heereboord, Adriaan (1613–1661)
- Hobbes, Thomas (1588–1679)
- Hogelande, Cornelis Van (ca.1590–1662)
- Holenmerism (Holenmerianism)
- Huet, Pierre-Daniel (1630–1721)
- Human Being
- Huygens, Christiaan (1629–1695)
- Huygens, Constantijn (1596–1687)
- Hydrostatics
- Hyperaspistes
- Idea
- Imagination
- Individuation
- Inertia
- Infinite versus Indefinite
- Intellect
- Jansenism
- Jesuit
- Judgment
- Kepler, Johannes (1571–1630)
- Knowledge (Scientia)
- La Forge, Louis de (1632–1666)
- La Grange, Jean-Baptiste de (ca.1641 – after 1680)
- Lamy, Bernard (1640-1715)
- Lamy, François (1636–1711)
- Language
- Law of Nature
- Le Bossu, René (1631–1680)
- Le Grand, Antoine (1629–1699)
- Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1646–1716)
- Light
- Locke, John (1632–1704)
- Luynes, Duc de (Louis-Charles d'Albert) (1620–1690)
- Machine
- Magnetism
- Malebranche, Nicolas (1638–1715)
- Mathematics
- Mathesis Universalis
- Mechanics
- Medicine
- Meditations on First Philosophy
- Memory
- Mersenne, Marin (1588–1648)
- Mesland, Denis (1615–1672)
- Metaphysics
- Meteors
- Method
- Meyssonnier, Lazare (1611–1673)
- Mind
- Mode
- More, Henry (1614–1687)
- Morin, Jean-Baptiste (1583–1656)
- Motion
- Mydorge, Claude (1585–1647)
- Native Intelligence (Ingenium)
- Nature
- Newton, Isaac (1642–1727)
- Noël, Étienne (1581–1659)
- Objections and Replies
- Ontological Argument
- Optics
- Oratorian
- Pascal, Blaise (1623–1662)
- Passion
- Passions of the Soul
- Pelagianism
- Perception
- Person
- Petau, Denis (1583–1652)
- Philosophy
- Physico-Mathematics
- Physics
- Picot, Claude (1601–1668)
- Pineal Gland
- Place, External versus Internal
- Plempius (Plemp), Vopiscus Fortunatus (1601–1671)
- Plenum
- Poisson, Nicolas-Joseph (1637–1710)
- Pollot, Alphonse (ca.1602–1668)
- Prejudice
- Primitive Notion
- Principles of Philosophy
- Private Thoughts
- Quality, Real
- Quality, Sensible
- Quantity
- Rainbow
- Rarefaction and Condensation
- Reason
- Régis, Pierre-Sylvain (1632–1707)
- Regius, Henricus (Hendrik de Roy) (1598–1679)
- Reneri, Henricus (Henri Regnier) (1593–1639)
- Representation
- Roberval, Gilles Personne de (1602–1675)
- Rohault, Jacques (1618–1672)
- Rosicrucian
- Rubius, Antonius (Rubio, Antonio) (1548–1615)
- Rules for the Direction of the Mind
- Scholasticism
- Schoock, Martinus (1614–1669)
- Scotus, John Duns (1265?–1308)
- Search for Truth by the Natural Light
- Sensation
- Shape
- Silhon, Jean de (1596–1667)
- Simple Nature
- Soul, Immortality of the
- Species, Intentional
- Spinoza, Benedict (Baruch) (1632–1677)
- The Stampioen Affair
- Suárez, Francisco (1548–1617)
- Substance
- Subtle Matter
- Syllogism
- Thought
- Time
- Toletus, Franciscus (Francisco de Toledo) (1532–1596)
- Transubstantiation
- Treatise on Man
- True and Immutable Nature
- Truth
- Universal
- Vacuum
- Vanini, Giulio Cesare (1585–1619)
- Vatier, Antoine (1591–1659)
- Villebressieu (Ville-Bressieu, or Ville-Bressieux), Étienne de (ca. 1607–1674)
- Virtue
- Voetius, Gysbertus (1589–1676)
- Vorstius, Adolph (1597–1663)
- Vortex
- Wax
- The World (or Treatise on Light)
- Index
- References
Summary
In the autumn of 1631, Descartes comments favorably on the content of a Memoir by Étienne de Villebressieu, which states that “the nature of these elements … which are called earth, water, air and fire consists only in the difference between the fragments, or small and large particles” of one and the same type of matter (AT I 216, CSMK 33). When he writes to Villebressieu, Descartes had already drafted chapter 5 of The World, which explains that three elements form “all the bodies of which the universe is composed.” The first one, which “may be called the element of fire,” consists of extremely fast and small particles that constitute the matter of the sun and of the fixed stars. Owing to their extreme subtlety and to their capacity to “change shape at every moment to accommodate themselves to the shape of the places they enter,” these particles are also able to fill the gaps among the particles of the other two elements. The second element, “which may be called air,” is made of “more or less round particles” of different size which constitute celestial vortices (see vortex); the third element, “namely that of earth,” which makes up the earth, the planets, and the comets, is composed of comparatively large parts “which have very little or no motion that might cause them to change position with respect to one another” (AT X 23–31, G 16–21). There is no qualitative difference between the elements: the two pairs of contraries (hot and cold, moist and dry), which characterize the four Aristotelian elements, are “themselves in need of explanation,” being like all other qualities the result of the “motion, size, shape and arrangement” of the particles of matter (AT X 26, G 18). In the Principles of Philosophy (1644), Descartes reiterates his conviction that only one type of matter exists and that “all the properties which we clearly perceive in it are reducible to its divisibility and consequent mobility in respect of its parts” (AT VIIIA 52–53, CSM I 232), but he does not associate his own elements with air, fire, and earth anymore.
Both in The World and in the Principles, Descartes offers a hypothetical reconstruction of the emergence of the three elements out of an undifferentiated first matter.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Descartes Lexicon , pp. 233 - 234Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015