Pierre Gassendi most definitely deserves a place on the syllabus next year for this class. Gassendi dedicated his life to philosophy and the amount of topics explored within his philosophy is sensational. Gassendi explored ideas in astronomy and atomism all the way to logic and ethics. If not for Gassendi, use of the scientific and empirical methods would not have been introduced into mainstream European thought. Gassendi was incredibly ahead of his time and realized the importance of sensory experience and claims backed up by evidence.
Not only was Gassendi a forward thinker in terms of scientific philosophy, but he was someone who was not afraid to go against his own community in order to promote his philosophical beliefs. Gassendi managed to contribute so much to the scientific revolution while under watch from the church during his time as a Catholic priest. He also was heavily interested in Galileo’s findings – someone who the church was not very fond of. Yet, Gassendi was incredibly smart about his philosophical moves. In the midst of the scientific revolution, when it was known that the church did not agree with many scientists, Gassendi took an extra step and crafted his philosophy to be compatible with the church. If not for his bravery and courage to speak up about his scientific and astronomical theories that might have conflicted with traditional ideas from the church, and proactive thinking, we would not be as common with the scientific method as we are today.
Additionally, Gassendi’s influence in modern philosophy goes completely unnoticed. Gassendi influenced figures such as Robert Boyle, John Locke, and Isaac Newton, some of the most famous and prestigious philosophers and scientists ever. Newton even incorporated Gassendi’s concept of absolute space as part of the foundation for his physics. Gassendi also has a crater on the moon named after him, so clearly someone thought he was important!
If Gassendi has influenced many of the philosophers currently on our syllabus it is imperative that we learn about him. It is crucial to see where philosophers obtained certain ideas and how they implemented them into their own philosophies.
Without Gassendi we would not be accustomed to a baseline system for acquiring knowledge. Without Gassendi we would not know how philosophy and Catholicism could peacefully coexist amongst each other. Without Gassendi we would not know Newtonian physics. Gassendi is one of the most underrated and underappreciated philosophers, and it would simply be egregious if he did not earn a spot as one of the philosophers on our syllabus for next year.