David van Goorle"Junior" is seldom added to his name. But there existed an older David van Goorle: F. M. Jaeger
"Goorle (David van), Senior"
In Molhuysen, P.C.; Blok P.J. ''Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek'', Leiden, 1911, col. 209. (also known under his Latinized name David Gorlaeus) (15 January 1591,

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

– 21 April 1612, Cornjum)Lüthy, Christoph
"David Gorlaeus atomism, or: The marriage of Protestant metaphysics with Italian natural philosophy"
In Lüthy, Christoph Herbert; Murdoch, John Emery; Newman, William Royall (eds.) ''Late Medieval and Early Modern Corpuscular Matter Theories'', pp. 245-290. was a Dutch philosopher and theologian, and one of the first modern atomists.

Biography

Van Goorle was the son of David van Goorle Sr., a Protestant refugee from

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, who at the time of his birth was treasurer for

stadtholder In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...

Adolf van Nieuwenaar Adolf van Nieuwenaar, Count of Limburg and Moers (also: Adolf von Neuenahr) (c. 1545 – 18 October 1589) was a statesman and soldier, who was stadtholder of Overijssel, Guelders and Utrecht for the States-General of the Netherlands during the ...

. His uncle was

Abraham Gorlaeus Abraham van Goorle or, Latinized, Abraham Gorlaeus (ca. 1549 – 1608) was a Dutch antiquary of Flemish origin. Gorlaeus was born in Antwerp as the son of Jacob Godevaertsz van Ghoorle and Willemken Heijmolen, but fled as a teenager with his br ...

. His mother was a Frisian noblewoman, the daughter of admiral Doecke van Martena, known for his role in the Dutch and Frisian wars of independence. Although he called himself ''Ultrajectinus'' (after his birthplace Utrecht), he grew up with his maternal grandparents in their

stins A stins (Dutch, pl. ''stinsen''; from West Frisian ''stienhûs'' utch ''steenhuis''"stone house", shortened to ''stins'', pl. ''stinzen'') is a former stronghold or villa in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. Many stinsen carry the name ...

in the Frisian village of Cornjum. In 1606 he enrolled in arts at the

University of Franeker The University of Franeker (1585–1811) was a university in Franeker, Friesland, the Netherlands. It was the second oldest university of the Netherlands, founded shortly after Leiden University. History Also known as ''Academia Franekerensis'' o ...

; there the anti-Aristotelian professor Henri de Veen, better known under his Latinized name of Henricus de Veno (-1613), was going to have a "decisive influence" on him. From April 1611, he studied

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

at the University of Leiden; he also expressed his views on atoms in his book ''Idea Physicae'', where he disputes the theories of

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

and claims that there is something as a "smallest, undividable, particle". For the early seventeenth century these were revolutionary thoughts, and Van Goorle is regarded as one of the founders of the particle-atom theory, together with Daniel Sennert and

Pierre Gassendi Pierre Gassendi (; also Pierre Gassend, Petrus Gassendi; 22 January 1592 – 24 October 1655) was a French philosopher, Catholic priest, astronomer, and mathematician. While he held a church position in south-east France, he also spent much tim ...

, to name just a few. He died at the early age of 21; on his tombstone in the church of Cornjum he is remembered as an "erudite and very intelligent young man." His larger work, ''Exercitationes philosophicae'', was printed posthumously in 1620. It is thought that this last work influenced Henricus Regius and

René Descartes René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Mathem ...

. Although Gorlaeus' name is little-known today, he was for decades an archetypal anti-Aristotelian. In 1624 Father Mersenne gives a horrifying picture of the Dutch theologian who believes—says Mersenne—that a creature can draw something from nothing, that

accidents An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not directly caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that nobody should be blamed, but the event may have been caused by unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Most researcher ...

can pass from

substance Substance may refer to: * Matter, anything that has mass and takes up space Chemistry * Chemical substance, a material with a definite chemical composition * Drug substance ** Substance abuse, drug-related healthcare and social policy diagnosis ...

to substance, that atoms exist etc., all that being tantamount if not to atheism at least to deism. Mersenne mentions

Giordano Bruno Giordano Bruno (; ; la, Iordanus Brunus Nolanus; born Filippo Bruno, January or February 1548 – 17 February 1600) was an Italian philosopher, mathematician, poet, cosmological theorist, and Hermetic occultist. He is known for his cosmologic ...

(and his English disciple Nicholas Hill), Tommaso Campanella and

Jean Bodin Jean Bodin (; c. 1530 – 1596) was a French jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse. He is known for his theory of sovereignty. He was also an influential writer on demonology. Bodin l ...

in the same list. In 1662 Arnold Verhel, a professor at the University of Franeker, still complains about Gorlaeans. Gorlaeus Laboratoria, a building of the University of Leiden, bears Van Goorle's name.The Gorlaeus Laboratoria

Works

* ''Exercitationes philosophicae'', Leiden 1620.
''Idea physicae''
Utrecht 1651. (Also digitized by e-rara.ch: )

Bibliography

* Lüthy, Christoph
''David Gorlaeus (1591-1612). An enigmatic figure in the history of philosophy and science''
Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goorle, David van 1591 births 1612 deaths 17th-century Dutch scientists 17th-century Dutch philosophers Scientists from Utrecht (city) People from Friesland University of Franeker alumni Leiden University alumni