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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Physical theory that supposes all matter to be composed of minute particles}}<br />
'''Corpuscularianism''', also known as '''corpuscularism''' ({{etymology|la|{{Wikt-lang|la|corpusculum}}|little body||[[-ism]]}}), is a set of theories that explain natural transformations as a result of the interaction of [[particles]] (''[[minima naturalia]], partes exiles, partes parvae, particulae'', and ''semina'').<ref>{{Citation|last=Bigotti|first=Fabrizio|title=Corpuscularianism|date=2020|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20791-9_133-1|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences|pages=1–13|editor-last=Jalobeanu|editor-first=Dana|place=Cham|publisher=Springer International Publishing|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-20791-9_133-1|isbn=978-3-319-20791-9|access-date=2021-04-12|editor2-last=Wolfe|editor2-first=Charles T.|url-access=subscription}}</ref> It differs from [[atomism]] in that corpuscles are usually endowed with a property of their own and are further divisible, while atoms are neither. Although often associated with the emergence of early modern mechanical philosophy, and especially with the names of [[Thomas Hobbes]],<ref name="Hobbes">Kenneth Clatterbaugh, ''The Causation Debate in Modern Philosophy, 1637-1739'', Routledge, 2014, p. 69.</ref> [[René Descartes]],<ref>Stephen Gaukroger, ''Descartes: An Intellectual Biography'', Clarendon Press, 1995, p. 228.</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Slowik |first=E. |year=2021 |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=E. N. |title=Descartes' Physics |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/descartes-physics |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |edition=Winter 2021}}</ref> [[Pierre Gassendi]],<ref name=":0">[[Vere Claiborne Chappell]] (ed.), ''The Cambridge Companion to Locke'', Cambridge University Press, 1994, p. 56.</ref> [[Robert Boyle]],<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last1=MacIntosh |first1=J. J. |last2=Anstey |first2=P. |last3=Jones |first3=J-E. |date=2022 |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=E. N. |editor2-last=Nodelman |editor2-first=U. |title=Robert Boyle |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2022/entries/boyle/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |edition=Winter 2022}}</ref> [[Isaac Newton]],<ref name="Newton">[http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/609.ral5q.fall04/LecturePDF/L20-LIGHTII.pdf virginia.edu] – Newton's Particle Theory of Light Lecture notes. Lindgren, Richard A. Research Professor of Physics. University of Virginia, Department of Physics.</ref> and [[John Locke]],<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kochiras |first=H. |date=2020 |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=E. N. |title=Locke's Philosophy of Science |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2020/entries/locke-philosophy-science/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |edition=Spring 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=J-E. |date=2023 |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=E. N. |editor2-last=Nodelman |editor2-first=U. |title=Locke on Real Essence |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2023/entries/real-essence/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |edition=Summer 2023}}</ref> corpuscularian theories can be found throughout the history of [[Western philosophy]].<br />
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==Matter corpuscles==<br />
{{See also|Atomism#Galileo Galilei}}<br />
Corpuscularianism is similar to the theory of [[atomism]], except that where atoms were supposed to be indivisible, corpuscles could in principle be divided. In this manner, for example, it was theorized that mercury could penetrate into metals and modify their inner structure, a step on the way towards the production of gold by transmutation.{{Cn|date=March 2025}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Levere |first=Trevor |title=Transforming matter : a history of chemistry from alchemy to the buckyball |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-8018-6610-3 |pages=7-8}}</ref><br />
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Corpuscularianism was associated by its leading proponents with the idea that some of the apparent properties of objects are artifacts of the perceiving mind, that is, "secondary" qualities as distinguished from "primary" qualities.<ref>[http://www.vernonpratt.com/conceptualisations/d06bl2_1mechanical.htm The Mechanical Philosophy] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611053822/http://www.vernonpratt.com/conceptualisations/d06bl2_1mechanical.htm |date=June 11, 2008 }} - Early modern 'atomism' ("corpuscularianism" as it was known)</ref> Corpuscles were thought to be unobservable and having a very limited number of basic properties, such as size, shape, and motion.<ref name=":1" /><br />
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[[William R. Newman]] traces the origins from the fourth book of [[Aristotle]], ''[[Meteorology (Aristotle)|Meteorology]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Lüthy|Murdoch|Newman|2001|p=306}}.</ref> The "dry" and "moist" [[Theory of exhalations|exhalations]] of Aristotle became the alchemical [[sulfur-mercury theory of metals|'sulfur' and 'mercury']] of the eighth-century [[Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam|Islamic alchemist]], [[Jābir ibn Hayyān]] (died c. 806–816). [[Pseudo-Geber]]'s ''Summa perfectionis'' contains an [[Alchemy|alchemical]] theory in which unified [[sulfur]] and [[Mercury (element)|mercury]] corpuscles, differing in purity, size, and relative proportions, form the basis of a much more complicated process.<ref>{{harvnb|Newman|2006|p=13}}. On the sulfur-mercury theory of metals, see {{harvnb|Norris|2006}}, and especially {{harvnb|Newman|2014}}.</ref><br />
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Corpuscularianism remained a dominant theory for centuries and was blended with [[alchemy]] by early scientists such as [[Robert Boyle]] and [[Isaac Newton]] in the 17th century. In his work ''[[The Sceptical Chymist]]'' (1661), Boyle abandoned the [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] ideas of the [[classical elements]]—earth, water, air, and fire—in favor of corpuscularianism. In his later work, ''The Origin of Forms and Qualities'' (1666), Boyle used corpuscularianism to explain all of the major Aristotelian concepts, marking a departure from traditional [[Aristotelianism]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Osler|first=Margaret J.|title=Reconfiguring the World. Nature, God, and Human Understanding, from the Middle Ages to Early-Modern Europe|page=127|year=2010|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore|isbn=978-0-8018-9656-9}}</ref> Boyle used it to develop his [[Mechanism (philosophy)|mechanical]] corpuscular philosophy, which laid the foundations for the [[chemical revolution]].<ref>{{citation |author=Ursula Klein |title=Styles of Experimentation and Alchemical Matter Theory in the Scientific Revolution |date=July 2007 |journal=Metascience |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=247–256 esp. 247 |publisher=Springer |doi=10.1007/s11016-007-9095-8 |issn=1467-9981}}</ref><br />
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== Light corpuscules ==<br />
{{Main|Corpuscular theory of light}}[[Isaac Newton]]’s corpuscular theory of light proposed that light consists of tiny particles, or corpuscles, traveling in straight lines.<ref name="Newton" /> In contrast, [[Christiaan Huygens]] proposed that light was [[wave]]. Until the 18th century, the corpuscular theory successfully explained [[Reflection (physics)|reflection]] and [[refraction]] but struggled with [[diffraction]]. By the early 19th century, experiments by [[Thomas Young (scientist)|Thomas Young]] and [[Augustin-Jean Fresnel]] conclusively demonstrated the wave nature of light. However, the concept of light as particles resurfaced in the 20th century with the concept of [[Photon|photons]], leading to the modern [[Wave–particle duality|wave-particle duality]] of light.<br />
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== Gravitational corpuscles ==<br />
In antiquity, the idea of gravitational corpuscles was invoked to explain the influence of the Moon over the tides.<br />
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When Newton introduced his [[Newton's law of universal gravitation|law of universal gravitation]], he considered that it was problematic as it behave as [[action at a distance]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Berkovitz |first=Joseph |title=Action at a Distance in Quantum Mechanics |date=2008 |work=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2008/entries/qm-action-distance/ |access-date=2025-03-03 |edition=Winter 2008 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University}}</ref> Alternative theories to Newtonian gravity also expanded the use of corpuscles, [[Le Sage's theory of gravitation]] of 1748, considered that corpuscles exerted pressure over objects. Also [[aether theories]] were suggested to explain gravitation until the development of [[general relativity]] in 1915.<br />
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== Magnetic effluences ==<br />
Ancient philosopher [[Empedocles]] introduced the idea of effluences to explain magnetic forces as seen in [[Lodestone|lodestones]]. [[René Descartes]] further developed this theory.<br />
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== Sociology ==<br />
The philosopher [[Thomas Hobbes]] used corpuscularianism to justify his political theories in ''[[Leviathan (Hobbes book)|Leviathan]]''.<ref name="Hobbes" /><br />
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== See also ==<br />
*[[Atomic theory]]<br />
*[[Atomism]]<br />
*[[Classical element]]<br />
*[[History of chemistry]]<br />
*[[Imponderable fluid]]s<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==Bibliography==<br />
*{{cite journal|last1=Bigotti|first1=Fabrizio|date=2017|title=A Previously Unknown Path to Corpuscularism in the Seventeenth Century: Santorio's Marginalia to the ''Commentaria in Primam Fen Primi Libri Canonis Avicennae'' (1625)|journal=Ambix|volume=64|issue=1|pages=29–42|doi=10.1080/00026980.2017.1287550|pmid=28350287 |pmc=5470109}}<br />
*{{cite book|last1=Clericuzio|first1=Antonio|date=2000|title=Elements, Principles and Corpuscles: A Study of Atomism and Chemistry in the Seventeenth Century|location=Dordrecht|publisher=Kluwer|isbn=978-0-7923-6782-6}}<br />
*{{cite book|last1=Lasswitz|first1=Kurd|author1-link=Kurd Lasswitz|date=1890|title=Geschichte der Atomistik vom Mittelalter bis Newton. Band 1: Die Erneuerung der Korpuskulartheorie. Band 2: Höhepunkt und Verfall der Korpuskulartheorie des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts|location=Hamburg-Leipzig|publisher=Voss|oclc=2361346}} <br />
*{{cite book|editor1-last=Lüthy|editor1-first=Christoph|editor2-last=Murdoch|editor2-first=John E.|editor2-link=John E. Murdoch|editor3-last=Newman|editor3-first=William R.|editor3-link=William R. Newman|date=2001|title=Late Medieval and Early Modern Corpuscular Matter Theories|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-11516-3}}<br />
*{{cite journal|last1=Newman|first1=William R.|author1-link=William R. Newman|date=1993|title=The Corpuscular Theory of J.B. Van Helmont and its Medieval Sources|journal=Vivarium|volume=31|issue=1|pages=161–191|doi=10.1163/156853493X00132 }}<br />
*{{cite book|last1=Newman|first1=William R.|author1-link=William R. Newman|date=1994|chapter=Robert Boyle’s Debt to Corpuscular Alchemy|editor1-last=Hunter|editor1-first=Michael|title=Robert Boyle Reconsidered|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=107–118}}<br />
*{{cite journal|last1=Newman|first1=William R.|author1-link=William R. Newman|date=1996|title=The Alchemical Sources of Robert Boyle's Corpuscular Philosophy|journal=Annals of Science|volume=53|issue=6 |pages=567–585|doi=10.1080/00033799600200401 }}<br />
*{{cite journal|last1=Newman|first1=William R.|author1-link=William R. Newman|date=2001|title=Corpuscular Alchemy and the Tradition of Aristotle's Meteorology, with Special Reference to Daniel Sennert|journal=International Studies in the Philosophy of Science|volume=15|issue=2 |pages=145–153|doi=10.1080/02698590120059013 }}<br />
*{{cite book|last1=Newman|first1=William R.|author1-link=William R. Newman|date=2006|title=Atoms and Alchemy: Chymistry and the Experimental Origins of the Scientific Revolution|location=Chicago|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-57697-8}}<br />
*{{cite journal|last1=Newman|first1=William R.|author1-link=William R. Newman|date=2014|title=Mercury and Sulphur among the High Medieval Alchemists: From Razi and Avicenna to Albertus Magnus and Pseudo-Roger Bacon|journal=Ambix|volume=62|issue=4|pages=327–344|doi=10.1179/1745823414Y.0000000004|pmid=25509633 }}<br />
*{{Cite journal|last1=Norris|first1=John A.|date=2006|title=The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science|journal=Ambix|volume=53|pages=43–65|doi = 10.1179/174582306X93183}}<br />
*{{cite book|last1=Pabst|first1=Bernhard|date=1994|title=Atomtheorien des lateinischen Mittelalters|location=Darmstadt|publisher=Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft}}<br />
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==Further reading==<br />
*{{cite book|editor1-last=Lüthy|editor1-first=Christoph|editor2-last=Murdoch|editor2-first=John E.|editor2-link=John E. Murdoch|editor3-last=Newman|editor3-first=William R.|editor3-link=William R. Newman|date=2001|title=Late Medieval and Early Modern Corpuscular Matter Theories|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-11516-3|ref=no}}<br />
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[[Category:Atomism]]<br />
[[Category:History of chemistry]]<br />
[[Category:13th century in science]]<br />
[[Category:Metaphysical theories]]<br />
[[Category:Particles]]</div>imported>OAbot