In hmolscience, Nicholas of Autrecourt (c.1299-1369) was a French skeptical philosopher and theologian noted for his defense of atomic theory, repudiation of Aristotle, and rejection of the Democritus-Epicurus view of the soul as a type of atom or atomic movement, instead considering soul to be composed of two immortal spirits called “intellect” and “sense” as he named them. [1]
Atoms | Voids
The following is Blake Dutton’s 1996 abstract of Nicholas’ contribution: [2]
“In [Nicholas’] treatment of motion: in reducing all change to the locomotion of atoms, in positing an interstitial void, and in denying the infinite divisibility of the continuum, Nicholas both challenged Aristotelian physics at its most fundamental level and separated himself from virtually all of his scholastic contemporaries. Yet with few exceptions, this has received virtually no attention.”
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Cause | Effect
Nicholas, according to Jennifer Hecht (2004), on the question of cause and effect, argued along the same lines as the ancient skeptics, the Charvaka, and al-Ghazali, positioning that we can never be certain if two rational notions are causally related, no matter how well they seem to link. [3]
Works | Burned
In 1347, Nicholas was sentenced to burn all his writings, which he did in November. Two letters to a friend survived.
References
1. Stenger, Victor J. (2013). God and the Atom: from Democritus to the Higgs Boson: the Story of a Triumphant Idea (pg. 48). Prometheus Books.
2. Dutton, Blake D. (1996). “Nicholas of Autrecourt and William of Ockham on Atomism, Nominalism, and the Ontology of Motion” (abs), Medieval Philosophy and Theology, 5(1).
3. Hecht, Jennifer M. (2003). Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas (pg. 262). HarperOne.
External links
● Nicholas of Autrecourt – Wikipedia.
