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Affiliated Member: October 2018 - October 2020
Fellow: May - December 2015
Fabrizio Baldassarri defended a Ph.D. thesis in Descartes’ naturalistic studies in 2013, especially focusing on a Cartesian natural history embedded within his natural philosophy. He has recently been aiming attention at Descartes’ botanical studies as they emerged in Descartes’ correspondence and in his under-studied manuscripts. Additionally, Baldassarri’s thread of research are directed towards (1.) the comprehension of Descartes’ methodological procedures and their implementation in his philosophy, i.e., the relationship method-experimentation; (2.) the understanding of Descartes’ theory of matter, i.e., the emergence of an individuality in matter; (3.) the redefinition of Descartes’ sciences of life and of a few aspects of his medicine, physiology and therapeutics. Baldassarri has published and given presentations on all these subjects, and he is now looking at the sources and the relationships Descartes’ had with his scientific studies. He is collaborating at the redaction of the New Index Scolastico-Cartésien (edited by Dr. Igor Agostini).
Current project:
Principal Investigator: The Overlooked History of Vegetal Life. From the Vegetative Soul to Metabolism in Early Modern Philosophy and Biomedicine, (PN-III-P1-1.1-PD-2016-1496)
Past project:
Unexpected relationships. Descartes Botanical and Chemical Sources
This projects aims attention at reconstructing a few aspects of Descartes’ bio-medical manuscripts (the Excerpta Anatomica and the Remedia et vires medicamentorum). These laboratory notes in fact contain new captivating information about Descartes’ experiential researches of natural philosophy, and especially Descartes’ focus on medicine, chemistry, and botany. While Descartes’ published works revealed a gap between his theoretical and practical medicine, showing discrepancies in his medicine and life sciences, these manuscripts provide fascinating new insights. Chemical and botanical studies connected these fields. The main goal of this project is to shed light on these studies, and especially on some possible sources Descartes should have used (or simply known). Tracing the sources that “influenced” Descartes, the contemporaries’ work he consulted, or the experiences he achieved with his collaborators would reveal the development of his science and the relationship between his science and his method. The main objective – highlight Descartes’ relationships – would aid in disclosing the features of Descartes’ collaborative science, especially revealing the characteristics of his natural philosophy.