Work

Kenelm Digby's logic of common and natural notions

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: In this article, I take a fresh look at the logic of common and natural notions contained in the Two Treatises published in 1644 by Kenelm Digby (1603–1665). Digby's doctrine of common notions was an attempt to retrofit Aristotelianism in order to bring it out of the shadows of scholasticism and into the age of the new experimental and collaborative natural philosophy. To achieve that, he argued that natural philosophy began in the world of experience expressed in common language and was structured according to the basic principles he calls common notions. Taking my point of departure in his correspondence with Hobbes and Mersenne, I explore the Epicurean roots of this theory.

Source: The Southern Journal of Philosophy

DOI: 10.1111/sjp.12591

Author: Mogens Lærke

Institution: Maison Française d'Oxford

Language: English

Topic: Historical Philosophy and Science

Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,760

Funder: European Research Council