October is National History Month in the Netherlands, and activities are taking place across the country around the theme Echt nep (Truly Fake). As part of these activities, Carla Rita Palmerino will give a lecture (in Dutch) in Leeuwarden about the Frisian philosopher Holwarda.
For decades, historians of philosophy have debated the influence of the famous French philosopher Pierre Gassendi on his much lesser-known contemporary Jan Fokkes Holwarda, a professor at the University of Franeker in Frisia, one of the most northern provinces of the Netherlands. This debate now seems to be settled thanks to a groundbreaking article by Carla Rita Palmerino, professor at the Center for the History of Philosophy and Science at Radboud University and a specialist in early modern philosophy. In the article, she shows that large parts of Holwarda's Philosophia naturalis, seu physica vetus-nova (1651) were plagiarized from Gassendi's works.
Catching a Fraudster
In the Philosophia naturalis, Holwarda presents an atomistic theory of matter, which some scholars regarded as original, while others suspected a possible influence from the atomist Gassendi. Palmerino explains that she began reading Holwarda’s book as part of a study on Gassendi’s influence in the Low Countries. She quickly recognized arguments and examples clearly borrowed from the French thinker, but at one point, she experienced a strong sense of déjà vu. She came across a passage that she recognized word-for-word from an astronomical work that Gassendi had published in 1642.
An Inventive Plagiarist
Palmerino then decided to have the entire text of Holwarda's book digitized to more thoroughly compare it with Gassendi's works. It quickly became clear that nearly every page in the chapters on atomism and the theory of motion contains passages copied word for word from Gassendi. The fact that no one had previously uncovered Holwarda's plagiarism is not surprising, as he concealed it well. He took quotes from various works of Gassendi, mixed them throughout his work, and sometimes rephrased Gassendi's theories in his own words. This patchwork technique shows that Holwarda had a good understanding of Gassendi's natural philosophy.
The Historical Value of Fraud
That Holwarda understood Gassendi's natural philosophy so well and recognized its importance as early as 1651 is also of great historical value. It is often believed that Gassendi’s atomism only gained popularity in Europe after the publication of Syntagma Philosophicum in 1658. However, Holwarda's work shows that Gassendi’s theories of matter had already reached the northernmost parts of the Netherlands ten years earlier, when Holwarda first taught his course on natural philosophy.
Science Across Borders
Some historians who have studied Holwarda have used the Frisian philosopher and his matter theory as proof to argue that in early seventeenth-century Holland, an original form of “mechanical philosophy” was developed independently, without influence from other countries. Palmerino's research shows that this was not the case, and that in the seventeenth century, national borders did not stop the spread of scientific ideas. Scientific research in Europe has thus always had an international character.
Truly Fake in Franeker
Palmerino will discuss this and more during her lecture in Franeker on October 23. October is National History Month in the Netherlands. The theme this year is echt nep (truly fake). In her lecture, Palmerino will focus on the exchange between real and fake elements within Holwarda’s work. Besides Palmerino, Professor Han Thomas Adriaenssen and Dr. Jacob van Sluis (both from the University of Groningen) will also give lectures. The program runs from 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM and will take place at Tresoar in Leeuwarden. Palmerino’s lecture will be in Dutch.
More information about the lecture can be found on the website of Tresoar.
Read Carla Rita Palmerino’s article on the website of Brill Publishing.