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Why Boyle?

Robert Boyle was easily one of the most influential and impactful philosophers in modern philosophy and deserves a place on the syllabus for next year. Boyle’s experiments and viewpoints on philosophy created a connection between the scientific community and philosophy that would not be present without him. By connecting his experiments to philosophy, it allowed for not only philosophers to recognize his work and agree with it, but scientists as well. Boyle’s unique approach to philosophy by involving experiments also allowed for a connection between philosophical ideas, such as corpuscular particles from Descartes or Aristotle’s beliefs on the elements to be able to materialize into scientific fact, like the atomic theory. Without Boyle there would not be a bridge between philosophy and what we now know as modern science. With Boyle having been inspired by philosophers such as Galileo at a young age and then Boyle inspiring philosophers such as John Locke, his life highlights a period of time in which there was a great change in mechanical and natural philosophy due to his beliefs and findings. Overall, this impact on not only the scientific community but the philosophers to come after him makes Boyle a perfect candidate to be put on the syllabus for next year as his impact on the world is simply too big to be overlooked.