Libert Froidmont (Latin: ''Libertus Fromondus''; 3 September 1587, in Haccourt-Liège – 28 October 1653, in Louvain) a son of Gerard Libert de Froidmont and Marguerite Radoux, was a
Liégeois theologian and scientist. He was a close companion to
Cornelius Jansen
Cornelius Jansen (; ; Latinized name Cornelius Jansenius; also Corneille Jansen; 28 October 1585 – 6 May 1638) was the Dutch Catholic bishop of Ypres in Flanders and the father of a theological movement known as Jansenism.
Biography
He ...
and corresponded with
René Descartes
René Descartes ( , ; ; 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 Modern science, science. Mathematics was paramou ...
.
Life
Froidmont was educated by the Jesuits in his nativ
Haccourt near
Li%C3%A8ge
Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...
, and studied philosophy in
Leuven
Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...
at the Falcon college. He became friends with Jansenius but did not pursue his studies and instead went to teach first at Antwerp and later back at Louvain. As a young professor there he was excited about Galileo's discoveries and introduced them to his students.
His scientific interests led him to publish on physics and mathematics.
Acknowledging him as an authority on meteors,
Descartes sent him his ''
Discourse on the Method
''Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences'' () is a philosophical and autobiographical treatise published by René Descartes in 1637. It is best known as the source of the famous quotation ...
'', which Froidmont received rather critically. The scientific revolution may have been underway but Froidmont, who was well informed on many scientific matters, kept a traditionalist Aristotelian view. Nevertheless, he sought to co-opt rather than reject new approaches.
[Davide Cellamare, and Paul J.J.M. Bakker, ''Libertus Fromondus' Christian Psychology: Medicine and Natural Philosophy in the 'Philosophia christiana de anima','' (1649), ''Lias'', 42:1 (2015), pp. 37-66.]
While teaching philosophy he also started studying theology and obtained a doctorate in 1628. Meanwhile, he had become close to Jansenius who entrusted him with the posthumous publication of the ''
Augustinus
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosophy ...
''. Froidmont succeeded him in the chair of Scripture at Louvain.
Works
*''Coenae saturnalitiae, variatiae Somnio sive Peregrinatione coelesti'' (Louvain, 1616)
*''Dissertatio de cometa anni 1618'' (Antwerp, 1619)
*
*''Labyrinthus sive de compositione continui'' (Antwerp, 1631)
*''Commentarii in libros Quaestionum naturalium Senecae'' (Antwerp, 1632)
*''Anti-Aristarchus sive orbis terrae immobilis adversus Philippum Lansbergium'' (Antwerp, 1634)
*''Philosophia Christiana de Anima'' (1649), where he talks about "novacula occami".
References
Bibliography
* Bernès, A.-C. (éd.), ''Libert Froidmont et les résistances aux révolutions scientifiques''. Actes du Colloque Château d'Oupeye, 26-7 septembre 1987, Haccourt, 1988.
*
* Demaret, H., ''Notice Historique sur Libert Froidmont de Haccourt'', Liège,1925.
External links
*
Libert Froidmont at Wikimedia Commons
*
Libert Froidmont at the ScholasticonLibert Froidmont at Lovaniensia and KU Leuven Special Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Froidmont, Libert
Belgian philosophers
1587 births
1653 deaths
17th-century philosophers