In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

The obvious place to begin any research on Isaac Beeckman’s natural philosophy is the Journal tenu par Isaac Beeckman de 1604 à 1634, publié avec une introduction et des notes par C. de Waard, 4 vols. (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1939–53). This excellent edition includes scientific and technical notes as well as remarks of a more personal nature. In addition to Beeckman’s correspondence, the fourth volume comprises almost all archival material concerning his life and that of his relatives, most of which was destroyed during the Second World War. The manuscript of Beeckman’s notebooks was also damaged during the war, but has been restored almost completely (Middelburg, Zeeuwse Bibliotheek, ms. no. 6471). The Journal is available on the Internet in two editions: www .historyofscience.nlandwww.dbnl.nl/auteurs/beeckman.Beeckman’scorrespondence is also partially published in the major editions of the correspondences of René Descartes and Marin Mersenne: Oeuvres de Descartes, publiées par Charles Adam et Paul Tannery, 13 vols. (Paris: Vrin, 1964–75), vol. 1 (originally published 1897); Correspondance du P. Marin Mersenne religieux minime, publiée par Mme Paul Tannery, éditée et annotée par Cornelis de Waard et al., 17 vols. (Paris: Beauchesne, 1932–88), vols. 2–6. During his lifetime Beeckman published only his dissertation, Theses de Febre Tertiana (Cadomi [Caen]: Ex typographia Jacobi Bassi, 1618), of which only the British Museum owns a partial copy (reproduced in the Journal, 4:42–44). Abraham published a selection of his brother Isaac’s notes some years after Beeckman’s death as his Mathematicophysicarum Meditationum, Quaestionum, Solutionum Centuria (Utrecht: Petrus Daniel Sloot, 1644). An interesting source on Beeckman’s intellectual outlook is the auction catalog of his library, reproduced by Eugenio Canone, “Il Catalogus librorum di Isaac Beeckman,” Nouvelles de la Republique des Lettres 1991, no. 1 (1992): 131–59. Cornelis de Waard offers a very factual biography of Beeckman in the first volume of hiseditionofthenotebooks:“Viedel’auteur,”Journal(1939),1:i–xxiv.Thiswasthebasis for the intellectual portrait De Waard sketched in “Isaac Beeckman (1588–1637),” Archives du Musée Teyler, ser. 3, 9 (1947): 299–342. Klaas van Berkel’s Isaac Beeckman (1588– 1637) en de mechanisering van het wereldbeeld (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1983) is the first book-length treatment of Beeckman’s life and work. It forms the basis for the present volume. Klaas van Berkel, “Isaac Beeckman,” in Ueberweg Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie: Die Philosophie des 17. Jahrhunderts; Frankreich und Niederlande, Zweiter Halbband (Basel: Schwabe, 1993), 631–36, includes new material. Bibliographic Essay 250 bibliographic essay The secondary literature concerning Beeckman’s ideas on natural philosophy is highly fragmented and consists mainly of articles devoted to special aspects of his scienti fic work. De Waard announced the discovery of Beeckman’s notebooks in “Eene correspondentie van Descartes uit de jaren 1618 en 1619,” Nieuw Archief voor Wiskunde, Tweede Reeks, 7 (1905): 69–87, focusing our attention from the very start on Beeckman ’s relationship with Descartes, as if he was only worthwhile studying in the context of the genesis of Descartes’s natural philosophy. De Waard further analyzed Beeckman ’s thoughts on the rules of collision in his “Sur les règles du choc des corps d’après Beeckman,” Correspondence de Mersenne, 2:632–44. E. J. Dijksterhuis discusses Beeckman ’s meaning for the science of mechanics in The Mechanization of the World Picture, trans. C. Dikshoorn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961), 329–33. More recent discussions of Beeckman’s theory of mechanics and its presumed influence on Descartes include Peter Damerow and Gideon Freudenthal, Exploring the Limits of Preclassical Mechanics : A Study of Conceptual Development in Early Modern Science; Free Fall and CompoundedMotionintheWorkofDescartes ,Galileo,andBeeckman(NewYork:Springer,2004 [1991]); and Richard Arthur, “Beeckman, Descartes and the Force of Motion,” Journal of the History of Philosophy 45 (2007): 1–28. Besides mechanics, several other topics discussed by Beeckman have received the attention of scholars and historians. De Waard discusses the opinions of Beeckman and several of his contemporaries regarding air pressure in his L’expérience barométrique. Ses antécédents et ses explications (Thouars (Deux Sèvres): Imprimerie nouvelle, 1936). Giancarlo Nonnoi, Il pelago d’aria. Galileo, Baliani, Beeckman (Rome: Bulzoni Editore, 1988),coversthesameground.ThewayReyerHooykaasdealswiththereligiousdimension of Beeckman’s work in his “Science and Religion in the Seventeenth Century: Isaac Beeckman, 1588–1637,” Free University Quarterly 1 (1951): 169–83, is instructive but also somewhat schematic. H. H. Kubbinga focuses entirely on Beeckman’s ideas...

Share