The Dutch Fates of Bacon’s Philosophy: Libertas Philosophandi, Cartesian Logic and Newtonianism

Bacon’s philosophy had a wide dissemination in Dutch Seventeenth Century context. This can be explained by considering the coeval diffusion of Cartesianism. Bacon's project of a reformation of science was deemed by Heereboord and De Raey as the manifesto of the introduction of new philosophy. Along with Geulincx, moreover, De Raey borrowed Bacon’s arguments on the causes of error and on the replacement of Aristotelian natural history, aimed to integrate Descartes's physics. Also in logic Bacon's influence was noticeable, as the development of a new Organon had its accomplishment in the Cartesian logic of Clauberg and of De Raey himself. In theology, Heidanus relied on Bacon in order to confute Socinianism. The fortune of Dutch Baconianism had its end with the rise of Newtonianism: as a quantitative, experimental philosophy arose, Bacon's works were no more regarded as a valuable source of arguments.