Hellenistic Background for Gassendi's Theory of Ideas

Abstract

Renaissance humanism is characterized by a revival of interest in ancient Greek and Latin writings. At the same time, the uses to which these ancient texts were put were typically contemporary, as Renaissance authors borrowed eclectically from their favorite ancients to make their modern claims. Montaigne wrote this way, but so did many others, many of whom did not feel obliged to cite their sources. For one thing, the audience they were writing for did not need to be informed of these allusions. These who knew their Cicero or Sextus did not require the pedantry of citation or quotation. Those who were unread in the classics could follow the argument all the same. And so Descartes could begin the first of his Meditations with allusions to well known Pyrrhonist arguments, without mentioning them by name. Unacknowledged borrowings extended to other materials as well. This is especially evident in the use of translated materials not only from ancient Greek to modern Latin but also from modern Latin to the