ABSTRACT
Historians have recently begun to recognize that the history of early modern Aristotelian thought is both more complicated and more interesting than was previously believed. Thanks to the groundbreaking work of Charles Lohr, Edward Cranz and especially Charles Schmitt, we have begun to distinguish between the various ‘Aristotelianisms’ of the seventeenth century.1 It is now possible to reevaluate the use and abuse of Aristotle’s philosophy in this period. The subtle but important manner in which even our philosophical heroes employed Aristotelian ideas has come to be documented.2 We have begun to understand, for example, that progressive philosophers, such as Descartes, Galileo and Leibniz, criticized the scholastics, while at the same time making important use of Aristotelian ideas.3 In other words, we are slowly coming to terms with the complicated history of Aristotelianism in the seventeenth century and are beginning to evaluate properly its genuine contribution to many of the most forward-looking elements in early modern thought.4
