ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with Gassendi’s theory of space and time, which forms the ontology of the new science. Gassendi was progressively led to conceive space and time as parallel to one another, neither substance nor accident, but physical entities whose existence was independent of bodies and motions, as well as of our mind, thus anticipating Newton’s theory of absolute space and time. Gassendi’s theory was the product both of his humanist reading of ancient and more recent sources, and of his reflections on scientific matters (especially in cosmology and chemistry, as well as in relation to experiments dealing with the artificial creation of a void). Gassendi’s theory of time evolved from an Epicurean conception—as an accident of accident—to an absolutist one, deriving from his reflections on the Galilean law of free fall. The parallelism between space and time carried over to the relation of both entities with God. Gassendi tried to link the immensity of extramundane void space with the immensity of God, while God’s eternity implied that God existed at every time. But the uncreated and independent dimension of space and time vis-à-vis God raised more problems for Gassendi’s followers than his theory could solve.
