Robert Boyle, Experimental Philosopher

Authors

  • Jernej Meden

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3986/fv.45.3.06

Keywords:

Robert Boyle, experimental philosophy, qualities of the bodies

Abstract

The author presenets Robert Boyle as an experimental philosopher and his contribution in establishing the role of experimental philosophy in the early modern scientific society. As a philosopher of nature, Boyle combined three modern identities: the scholar or philosopher, the Christian, and the gentleman. Boyle’s program of natural philosophy can be summarized in two programmatic points. First, to explain nature by reference to its basic building blocks, i.e., tiny bodies or corpuscles. Second, Boyle continues mechanistic explanations of nature, which explain natural phenomena based on the operation of machines that are a human product. Boyle’s contribution to 17th century natural philosophy was perhaps the greatest in the aria which concerns the research into what are the qualities or properties of bodies. With his findings, Boyle influenced both the development of Newton’s natural philosophy and Locke’s empiricist philosophy of mind and perception.

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References

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Published

2024-12-12

How to Cite

Meden, J. (2024). Robert Boyle, Experimental Philosopher. Filozofski Vestnik, 45(3). https://doi.org/10.3986/fv.45.3.06

Issue

Vol. 45 No. 3 (2024): Selected Writings from Early Modern Philosophy: From René Descartes to Isaac Newton

Section

Selected Writings from Early Modern Philosophy. From René Descartes to Isaac Newton

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