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Against Spinoza: fighting a methodical struggle against rationalism
NIEUWENTYT, Bernard.Gronden van zekerheid of de regte betoogwyse der wiskundige so in het denkbeeldige, als in het zakelyke: ter wederlegging van Spinosaas denkbeeldig samenstel; en ter aanleiding van eene sekere sakelyke wysbegeerte.    Amsterdam, Joannes Pauli, 1720. 4to. Contemporary vellum with title in ink on spine. Title in red & black with engraved vignette by J. Mulder, woodcut initials and end-pieces. (56), 458 pp. First Dutch edition of the last of Niewentyt's major works, posthumously published by Jacob van Ostade. The preliminary pages consist of a lengthy preface of 46 pages written by Van Ostade, a three-page long biography mentioning that the author died of encephalitis lethargica (the sleepy sickness), and an index of five pages. The second and third Dutch edition were published in 1741 resp. 1754. The work was also translated into French (1725) and English (1760). Bernard Nieuwentijt, Nieuwentijdt, or Nieuwentyt (1654 - 1718) was a Dutch philosopher, mathematician, physician, and theologian. As a philosopher, he was a follower of Descartes and an opponent of Spinoza. Although he was expected to become a minister, he chose instead to study natural sciences and medicine in Leiden and in Utrecht. After that he settled as a physician in Purmerend where he a few years later also became a burgomaster. Although his influence in philosophy was negligible, his position as a methodologist was unique up to modern times. The erudite scholarship of a small-town physician, apparent on almost every page of the book, is surprising. His work reveals a full acquaintance with the mathematics and other disciplines of his period and he was in contact with quite a few of the European scientific celebrities of his time. He was engaged for example in a controversy with Leibnitz and his school on the foundations of calculus and he rejected Leibnitz' approach to analysis. He wrote several books including his well-known work Het regt gebruik der werelt beschouwingen, ter overtuiginge van ongodisten en ongelovigen (The true use of World-concepts; 1715), which argued for the existence of God and attacked Spinoza, also published by Joannes Pauli, and also translated into English as The Existence of God, shown by the Wonders of Nature and into French. Nieuwentyt felt that rationalism led to Spinozism and other kinds of atheism. In the present work he argued Spinoza's 'geometrical method' was not the proper 'experimental method' of science, and he fights a methodical struggle against rationalism arriving at a clear distinction between what he called ideal and factual mathematics. He defends the insight that both avail themselves of the same formal methods, that all ideal statements are conditional, and that the ultimate criterion for factual statements is corroboration by experience. Good copy with wide margins.- (Top corner of title cut out; some water staining throughout).
DSB 9, pp. 120-1; Bierens de Haan 3564; NNBW VI, cols. 1062-3; Israel, Enlightenment Contested, pp. 385-6; cf. Poggendorf II, col 289 (other works); Vermij, Secularisering en natuurwetenschap, p. 83 ff.
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