This monograph details the entire scientific thought of an influential natural philosopher
whose contributions unfortunately have become obscured by the pages of history. Readers will
discover an important thinker: Burchard de Volder. He was instrumental in founding the first
experimental cabinet at a European University in 1675. The author goes beyond the familiar
image of De Volder as a forerunner of Newtonianism in Continental Europe. He consults neglected
materials including handwritten sources and takes into account new historiographical
categories. His investigation maps the thought of an author who did not sit with an univocal
philosophical school but critically dealt with all the ¿major¿ philosophers and scientists of
his age: from Descartes to Newton via Spinoza Boyle Huygens Bernoulli and Leibniz. It
explores the way De Volder¿s un-systematic thought used rejected and re-shaped their theories
and approaches. In addition the title includes transcriptions of De Volder's teaching
materials: disputations dictations and notes. Insightful analysis combined with a trove of
primary source material will help readers gain a new perspective on a thinker so far mostly
ignored by scholars. They will find a thoughtful figure who engaged with early modern science
and developed a place that fostered experimental philosophy.
