Edmond Pourchot (1651, Poilly – 1734, Paris) was a university professor noted for his controversial advocacy of Cartesianism (and the Cartesian theory of mechanics) in place of Aristotelianism.[1][2] The change within the University of Paris from Aristotelianism to Cartesianism during the 1690s was important in the history of the development of natural philosophy in France and continental Europe.[3][4]
Pourchot was named Professor of Philosophy in 1677, and he was a long-standing vice-chancellor/rector of the University of Paris, where he taught for 26 years. He authored a popular multi-volume Latin text entitled Institutiones philosophicae ad faciliorem veterum, ac recentiorum philosophorum lectionem comparatae (Paris, 1695; Paris, 1700; Lyon, 1711; Venice, 1715; Lyon, 1716–1717; Venice, 1730 [standard edition]; Paris & Lyon & Padua, 1733; Padua, 1751; Venice, 1755).[5][6] This text was well regarded among other French intellectuals, and gained followers for Cartesianism in many other countries including Turkey and Poland.[7][8] He was also a scholar of the Hebrew language. The Latin form of his name was Edmundus Purchotius (Edmundi Purchotii).
- Volume 1[9][10] - Logic and metaphysics
- Volume 2[11] - Geometry and general physics (including optics, hydrodynamics, simple machines, thermodynamics, and dynamics featuring projectiles, pendulums, etc.)
- Volume 3[12][13] - Cosmology (heliocentric and geocentric), botany, zoology, human anatomy, meteorology, astronomy, magnetism, metallurgy, and geography
- including a world map showing Terra Australis, the Prime Meridian passing through El Hierro, and the Island of California (Table 24)
- including a presentation of heliocentric Cartesian ethereal vortices in/around the Solar System (Table 20)...[14] this theory was supported by many notable scientists (for example Christiaan Huygens and Johann Bernoulli) prior to being supplanted by Newtonian mechanics (published 1686)[15][16]
- including an armillary sphere showing the plane of the ecliptic on the celestial sphere (Table 16)
- including an illustration of magnetic field lines which were not fully understood for another 150 years until Faraday and Maxwell (Table 26)
- Volume 4[17] - Ethics
- Volume 5[18] - Philosophy (including metaphysics and ontology)
