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
Roberval, Gilles Personne de (1602–1675)
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
Roberval was born as Gilles Personne in the small village of Roberval near Senlis, France. His father was a poor farmer or farmworker, and his mother is said to have given birth to him in a field. At the age of fourteen, his intelligence recognized, Gilles Personne was given instruction in mathematics and languages by a local priest. He later earned his living as an itinerant teacher of mathematics. After witnessing the siege of La Rochelle, he supplemented his mathematical knowledge through studies in fortification and ballistics. Arriving in Paris shortly afterward, in 1628, Roberval soon became a member of the circle around Mersenne and later of the Académie de Montmor. Around 1630 he was given permission to append “de Roberval” to his surname. In 1632 Roberval was appointed professor of philosophy at Collège de Maître Gervais in Paris, a small institution attached to the university, and he lived in austere rooms there until his death. He never married. Roberval competed successfully for the Ramus chair in mathematics at the Collège Royal and was appointed in 1634. Required by the statutes to submit to open competition every three years, he nonetheless kept this post until the end of his life.
Descartes and Roberval disliked each other intensely. Unimpressed by the Geometry, Roberval sent his critical comments to its author through their mutual friend Mersenne. Their animosity increased further when Roberval defended Fermat's method of tangents against criticism from Descartes (AT II 104–14). From this point onward, the two men engaged in dispute on many questions from methods for determining centers of gravity to the nature of space and body. When Roberval published what was purportedly the Latin version of a newly found Arabic script of a lost work of Aristarchus, but was in fact his own affirmation of the Copernican hypothesis, Descartes poured ridicule on the book. In particular, he noted that the supposed properties of matter were inconsistent with a spherical universe (AT IV 402).
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- Information
- The Cambridge Descartes Lexicon , pp. 655 - 657Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015