In what ways was Gassendi’s philosophy similar to Hobbes’s?
Pierre Gassendi was a French philosopher, scientist, mathematician and astronomer. He believed on inductive method and rejected Descartes’s deductive method and dualism. Descartes believed that body works on mechanical principle but mind do not, which he called mind-body dualism. Gassendi rejected his idea and believed that mind works on mechanical principle and is a physical body.
Main goal of Gassendi was to replace the deductive and dualistic philosophy with an inductive science based on physical monism. According to him, human mind is nothing but matter or material. His view resembled Hobbes in a way that both believed there is no existence of non-material mind. Both Gassendi and Hobbes rejected the idea of Descartes and explained the mind as a material and physical body, and it works with mechanical principle.
Gassendi suggested strong links between human mind and physics in a Hobbesian manner. Hobbes rejected Descarte’s view and explained his concept of mind as the sum total of a person’s thinking activities. Hobbes also explained that emotions, such as motivation and fear, are driven mechanically. They agree that man is motivated by fear such as “fear of death”. As a conclusion, views of Gassendi and Hobbes are similar in following ways:
1. Both rejected Descartes’s view on non-material mind and believed that all that exists was physical.
2. They explained the concept of mind as the sum total of a person’s thinking activities.
3. Both explained on human motivation that man is motivated by fear act in a way which relieves them from the discomfort and for the satisfaction of their own personal needs.
4. They believed that human beings are physical objects and their actions are explained in terms of mechanical terms.