Atomism, atheism, and the spontaneous generation of human beings: The debate over a natural origin of the first humans in seventeenth-century Britain

Journal of the History of Ideas

Volumn 63, Issue 2, 2002, Pages 207-221

  Goodrum, Matthew R ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; FEMALE; HISTORY; HUMAN; PHILOSOPHY; PREGNANCY; RELIGION; REPRODUCTION;

FEMALE; HISTORY, 17TH CENTURY; HUMANS; PHILOSOPHY, MEDICAL; PREGNANCY; RELIGION AND SCIENCE; REPRODUCTION;

EID: 0036527185     PISSN: 00225037     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3654194     Document Type: Review

References (74)

1. See G. E. R. Lloyd, Aristotelian Explorations (Cambridge, 1996), ch. 5; Allan Gotthelf, "Teleology and Spontaneous Generation in Aristotle: A Discussion," Apeiron, 22 (1989), 181-93; D. M. Balme, "Development of Biology in Aristotle and Theophrastus: Theory of Spontaneous Generation," Phronesis, 7 (1962), 91-104. For the pre-Socratics see W. K. C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy (6 vols.; Cambridge, 1967), I, 102-3; II, 203-4.
2. See G. E. R. Lloyd, Aristotelian Explorations (Cambridge, 1996), ch. 5; Allan Gotthelf, "Teleology and Spontaneous Generation in Aristotle: A Discussion," Apeiron, 22 (1989), 181-93; D. M. Balme, "Development of Biology in Aristotle and Theophrastus: Theory of Spontaneous Generation," Phronesis, 7 (1962), 91-104. For the pre-Socratics see W. K. C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy (6 vols.; Cambridge, 1967), I, 102-3; II, 203-4.
3. See G. E. R. Lloyd, Aristotelian Explorations (Cambridge, 1996), ch. 5; Allan Gotthelf, "Teleology and Spontaneous Generation in Aristotle: A Discussion," Apeiron, 22 (1989), 181-93; D. M. Balme, "Development of Biology in Aristotle and Theophrastus: Theory of Spontaneous Generation," Phronesis, 7 (1962), 91-104. For the pre-Socratics see W. K. C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy (6 vols.; Cambridge, 1967), I, 102-3; II, 203-4.
4. See G. E. R. Lloyd, Aristotelian Explorations (Cambridge, 1996), ch. 5; Allan Gotthelf, "Teleology and Spontaneous Generation in Aristotle: A Discussion," Apeiron, 22 (1989), 181-93; D. M. Balme, "Development of Biology in Aristotle and Theophrastus: Theory of Spontaneous Generation," Phronesis, 7 (1962), 91-104. For the pre-Socratics see W. K. C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy (6 vols.; Cambridge, 1967), I, 102-3; II, 203-4.
5. See G. E. R. Lloyd, Aristotelian Explorations (Cambridge, 1996), ch. 5; Allan Gotthelf, "Teleology and Spontaneous Generation in Aristotle: A Discussion," Apeiron, 22 (1989), 181-93; D. M. Balme, "Development of Biology in Aristotle and Theophrastus: Theory of Spontaneous Generation," Phronesis, 7 (1962), 91-104. For the pre-Socratics see W. K. C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy (6 vols.; Cambridge, 1967), I, 102-3; II, 203-4.
6. See R. Kruk, "A Frothy Bubble, Spontaneous Generation in the Medieval Islamic Tradition," Journal of Semitic Studies, 35 (1990), 265-82.
7. Titi Lucretii Cari. De rerum natura libri sex (Cambridge, 1675), second edition 1686. T. Lucretius Carus, the Epicurean Philosopher, His Six Books De natura rerum Done into English Verse, with Notes, tr. Thomas Creech (Oxford, 1682). See Cosmo A. Gordon, A Bibliography of Lucretius (Bury St Edmunds, 1985) and Thomas F. Mayo, Epicurus in England (1650-1725) (Dallas, 1934).
8. Titi Lucretii Cari. De rerum natura libri sex (Cambridge, 1675), second edition 1686. T. Lucretius Carus, the Epicurean Philosopher, His Six Books De natura rerum Done into English Verse, with Notes, tr. Thomas Creech (Oxford, 1682). See Cosmo A. Gordon, A Bibliography of Lucretius (Bury St Edmunds, 1985) and Thomas F. Mayo, Epicurus in England (1650-1725) (Dallas, 1934).
9. Titi Lucretii Cari. De rerum natura libri sex (Cambridge, 1675), second edition 1686. T. Lucretius Carus, the Epicurean Philosopher, His Six Books De natura rerum Done into English Verse, with Notes, tr. Thomas Creech (Oxford, 1682). See Cosmo A. Gordon, A Bibliography of Lucretius (Bury St Edmunds, 1985) and Thomas F. Mayo, Epicurus in England (1650-1725) (Dallas, 1934).
10. Titi Lucretii Cari. De rerum natura libri sex (Cambridge, 1675), second edition 1686. T. Lucretius Carus, the Epicurean Philosopher, His Six Books De natura rerum Done into English Verse, with Notes, tr. Thomas Creech (Oxford, 1682). See Cosmo A. Gordon, A Bibliography of Lucretius (Bury St Edmunds, 1985) and Thomas F. Mayo, Epicurus in England (1650-1725) (Dallas, 1934).
11. See Bernard Rochot, Les travaux de Gassendi sur Epicure et sur l'atomisme, 1619-1658 (Paris, 1944).
12. Lucretius, De rerum natura, tr. and ed. W. H. D. Rouse (London, 1924), Bk. II.
13. Ibid., II.590-600.
14. See Paul Brien, "La Génération des êtres vivants dans la philosophie épicurienne," Revue de Synthèse, 89 (1968), 307-21; and P. H. Schrijvers, Lucrèce et les sciences de la vie (Leiden, 1999), ch. 1.
15. See Paul Brien, "La Génération des êtres vivants dans la philosophie épicurienne," Revue de Synthèse, 89 (1968), 307-21; and P. H. Schrijvers, Lucrèce et les sciences de la vie (Leiden, 1999), ch. 1.
16. Lucretius, V.780-90.
17. Ibid., V.790-800.
18. Ibid., V.807-15.
19. Ibid., V.821-25.
20. Ibid., V.790-800; V.826-36.
21. Barry Brundell, Pierre Gassendi: from Aristotelianism to a New Natural Philosophy (Dordrecht, 1987), ch. 3.
22. Pierre Gassendi, Syntagma philosophicum, in Opera Omnia (6 vols.; Lyon, 1658), II, 170.
23. Ibid., II, 262.
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid., II, 266-67.
26. Ibid., II, 277-78.
27. Robert H. Kargon, Atomism in England from Hariot to Newton (Oxford, 1966), 60-85.
28. See Richard S. Westfall, Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England (New Haven, 1958), 20-25; Kargon (1966), 80-83.
29. See Richard S. Westfall, Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England (New Haven, 1958), 20-25; Kargon (1966), 80-83.
30. Westfall, 70.
31. Kargon, 84-85.
32. In Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charltoniana (London, 1654) Charleton argued that for atomism to be acceptable it had to conform to Christianity and it had to avoid the extreme materialism of Hobbes and that if properly conceived, atomism could even promote a belief in God.
33. Kargon, 85-92; Westfall, 108-12.
34. See Alan Cromartie, Sir Matthew Hale 1609-1676: Law, Religion and Natural Philosophy (Cambridge, 1995), 191-201.
35. Originally published in three parts in 1692 and later in The Folly and Unreasonableness of Atheism (London, 1693).
36. Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature (London, 1677), 257.
37. Ibid.
38. Ibid., 257-58.
39. Hale explicitly states that the semina act as an intermediary between the "Atomical Principles and the constitution of the spontaneous Birth of Men" (ibid., 258).
40. Ibid., 257-58.
41. Ibid., 259.
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid.
44. Many of these criticisms were directed against other theories of spontaneous generation and not just the ideas of the atomists.
45. Bentley refers here to the theories of Anaximander, Empedocles, and Epicurus, on which see W. K. C. Guthrie, In the Beginning: Some Greek Views on the Origins of Life and the Early State of Man (London, 1957).
46. Richard Bentley, The Folly and Unreasonableness of Atheism Demonstrated from the Advantage and Pleasure of a Religious Life, the Faculties of Human Souls, the Structure of Animate Bodies, & the Origin and Frame of the World: in Eight Sermons, Preached at the Lecture Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esquire, in the First Year MDCXCII (London, 1693), Sermon IV, 7-8.
47. Ibid., 10-11.
48. Ibid.
49. Ibid., 11.
50. Ibid., 14-15.
51. Gassendi, Syntagma philosophicum, II, 277-78.
52. Bentley, IV, 20-21.
53. Ibid., 21.
54. Ibid., 21-22.
55. Ibid., 22-26.
56. Hale, 272.
57. Bentley, IV, 27, 28-29, 31.
58. See John Farley, The Spontaneous Generation Controversy from Descartes to Oparin (Baltimore, 1977); and Everett I. Mendelsohn, "Philosophical Biology vs. Experimental Biology: Spontaneous Generation in the Seventeenth Century," in Marjorie Grene and Everett Mendelsohn (eds.), Topics in the Philosophy of Biology, (Boston, 1976), 37-65.
59. See John Farley, The Spontaneous Generation Controversy from Descartes to Oparin (Baltimore, 1977); and Everett I. Mendelsohn, "Philosophical Biology vs. Experimental Biology: Spontaneous Generation in the Seventeenth Century," in Marjorie Grene and Everett Mendelsohn (eds.), Topics in the Philosophy of Biology, (Boston, 1976), 37-65.
60. Hale, 277-78.
61. Ibid., 281-82.
62. Ibid., 282-83; Bentley, IV, 27.
63. Cromartie, 201-2.
64. th ed. (2 vols.; London, 1936), II, ch. 14; and Hermann Ley, Geschichte der Aufklärung und des Atheismus (5 vols.; Berlin, 1966-89), vols. 3/2-4/1.
65. th ed. (2 vols.; London, 1936), II, ch. 14; and Hermann Ley, Geschichte der Aufklärung und des Atheismus (5 vols.; Berlin, 1966-89), vols. 3/2-4/1.
66. th ed. (2 vols.; London, 1936), II, ch. 14; and Hermann Ley, Geschichte der Aufklärung und des Atheismus (5 vols.; Berlin, 1966-89), vols. 3/2-4/1.
67. Westfall, 2-3.
68. Hunter, 453.
69. Hale, 259.
70. Ibid., 274.
71. Ibid.
72. Ibid., 275.
73. Bentley, IV, 4-5.
74. See Sermon IV, 4 and Sermon V, 6-7.