GASSENDI. 



GASSENDI, (PETER,) in biography, a 

 very eminent philosopher and mathema- 

 tician, and one of the most illustrious orna- 

 ments of France, in the seventeenth cen- 

 tury, was born in the year 1592, at Chan- 

 terseir, about three miles from Digne, in 

 Provence. He afforded early evidence 

 that he possessed a lively and inquisitive 

 genius, and a happy memory, which de- 

 termined his parents, though they were 

 but in moderate circumstances, to bestow 

 upon him the best education in their 

 power. When he was only four years of 

 age, in consequence of the pious impres- 

 sions which had been made on his mind, 

 he was accustomed to act the preacher 

 among his playmates ; and soon after- 

 wards he began to discover his taste for 

 astronomy, by taking delight in gazing at 

 the moon and stars, when the atmosphere 

 was unclouded. 



The pleasure which he took in con- 

 templating the heavens often led him to 

 retire to unfrequented spots, where he 

 might feast his eyes without being dis- 

 turbed; by which means his parents 

 were frequently obliged to seek for him, 

 under anxiety and apprehensions for his 

 safety. When he was of a proper age to 

 be sent to school, he was placed under 

 the instructions of an excellent master at 

 Digne, where he made a rapid progress 

 in the knowledge of the Latin tongue, 

 and also acquired a pre-eminence over 

 his school-fellows in rhetorical exercises. 

 Afterwards he was sent to study philoso- 

 phy for two years, under an able profes- 

 sor at Aix ; and at the expiration of that 

 period returned to his father's house at 

 Chantersier. 



He had not been long at home, how- 

 ever, before he was invited to teach 

 rhetoric at Digne, when not quite six- 

 teen years of age ; and about three years 

 afterwards he was appointed to fill the 

 vacant chair of philosophy in the Uni- 

 versity of Aix. During his residence at 

 Digne, he had sedulously prosecuted his 

 studies in the learned languages, mathe- 

 matics, and astronomy, and after a dili- 

 gent examination of the different sys- 

 tems of philosophy among the ancients, 

 embraced that of Epicurus, of which he 

 afterwards proved himself the most inge- 

 nious defender in modern times. When 

 he entered upon his philosophical pro- 

 fessorship at Aix, notwithstanding that 

 the authority of Aristotle was still ac- 

 knowledged in almost all the public 

 schools, Gassendi, after the examples of 

 Vives, Ramus, and others, ventured pub- 

 licly to expose the defects of his system. 



VOL. V. 



The lectures which contained his cen- 

 sures of the Aristotelian philosophy, de- 

 livered in the indirect form of para- 

 doxical problems, were published under 

 the title of " Exercitationes Paradoxicae 

 adversus Aristotelem." This work, which 

 gave great offence to those who still re- 

 tained their predilection for scholastic 

 subtlety, obtained the author no small 

 degree of reputation with several 

 learned men, particularly with Nicholas 

 Peiresc, the president of the University 

 at Aix, who determined to procure for 

 him a situation in the church, in which 

 he should be enabled to pursue his fa- 

 vourite studies at his leisure, and with* 

 out any molestation. After Gassendi had 

 entered into holy orders, through the in- 

 terest of Peiresc, and Joseph Walter, 

 prior of Vallette, he was promoted to a 

 canonry in the cathedral church of Digne, 

 and admitted to the degree of doctor of 

 divinity ; and afterwards received the ap- 

 pointment of warden, or rector of the 

 same church. In consequence of these 

 promotions, he resigned his professor- 

 ship at Aix, and retiring to Digne, appli- 

 ed himself closely to his philosophical 

 and astronomical pursuits. 



Among his other works which he 

 wrote in this place, was a second book 

 of his " Exercitationes Paradoxicae," in- 

 tended to expose the futility of the Aris- 

 totelian logic. It was his first intention 

 to pursue the plan still further ; but the 

 violent opposition which he met with 

 from some of the zealous and powerful 

 advocates for the authority of Aristotle, 

 induced him to desist from all direct at- 

 tacks upon his philosophy. Still, how- 

 ever, he professed his attachment to the 

 system of Epicurus, and defended it with 

 great learning* and ability. 



From Lucretius, Laertius, and .other 

 ancient writers, he undertook to frame a 

 consistent scheme of Epicurean doctrine, 

 in which the phenomena of nature are 

 immediately derived from the notion of 

 primary atoms. But he was aware of the 

 fundamental defect of this system, and 

 added to it the important doctrine of a 

 divine superintending- mind, from whom 

 he conceived the first motion and subse- 

 quent arrangement to have been derived, 

 and whom he regarded as the wise gover- 

 nor of the world. He strenuously main- 

 tained the atomic doctrine, in opposition 

 to the fictions of the Cartesian philoso- 

 phy, which were at that time obtaining 

 great credit ; and particularly asserted, in 

 opposition to Des Cartes, the doctrine of 



