Inspired by the ideas contained in the newly recovered ancient sources, Renaissance
humanists questioned the traditional teachings of universities. Humanistically trained …

How did the concept of spontaneous generation survive for so long? We accept that, at
some point in the history of our universe, living creatures emerged from nonliving matter. Yet …

“Evolution” in contemporary discussions denotes the theory of the change of organic species
over time. Prior to the second half of the nineteenth century, the term was used primarily, if …

In this article, I argue that the French philosopher René Descartes was far more involved in
the study of plants than has been generally recognized. We know that he did not include a …

Abstract According to Marin Cureau de La Chambre—steering a middleway between the
Aristotelian and the Cartesian conception of the soul—everything that lives cognizes and …

A special issue dedicated to Aristotelian psychology in the period between 1250 and 1650
hardly requires extensive explanation or justification. Aristotelianism was so dominant in this …

This article explores some continuities between Late Aristotelian and Cartesian embryology.
In particular, it argues that there is an interesting consilience between some accounts of the …

The book provides the first systematic reconstruction of the reception of Lucretius'
theological and ethical verses in the work of the early modern philosopher Pierre Gassendi …

Especially after the 1610s, Tridentine Catholicism forcefully reasserted itself as a prominent
political and intellectual force in the Spanish Netherlands. Integrating this reality into …

In this dissertation I criticize and reconfigure the ontological framework within which
discussions of the organization, ontogeny, and evolution of organic form have often been …