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Project

Gassendi and the Science of Optics: the Genesis of a Continental Empiricism (Gassendi en optica)

This project focuses on the French philosopher and physicist Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655). It explores the articulation between his empiricism understood as a theory of knowledge based on the senses, and new optical theories and experimental practices.I concentrate on three main topics and show their connection to Gassendi’s epistemology: the physics of light, the physiology of vision, the psychology of vision.

Date:1 Oct 2015 →  31 Aug 2017
Keywords:empiricism, 17th century philosophy, optics
Disciplines:Theory and methodology of philosophy, History and foundations