Samuel de Sorbiere | |
|---|---|
 Samuel de Sorbiere | |
| Born | (1615-09-17)17 September 1615 Saint-Ambroix,Languedoc, France |
| Died | 9 April 1670(1670-04-09) (aged 54) Paris, France |
| Medical career | |
| Profession | Physician |
Samuel (de)Sorbière (French:[sɔʁbjɛʁ]; 17 September 1615 – 9 April 1670) was a French physician and man of letters, aphilosopher andtranslator, who is best known for his promotion of the works ofThomas Hobbes andPierre Gassendi, in whose view of physics he placed his support, though unable to refuteRené Descartes, but who developed a reputation in his own day for a truculent and disputatious nature.[1] Sorbière is regarded often by his position on ethics and disclosure about medical mistakes. In 1672 Sorbière considered the idea of being honest and upfront about a mistake having been made in medicine but thought that it might seriously jeopardise medical practice and concluded that it "would not catch on".[2]
After relocating to theNetherlands, he published a French translation ofThomas More'sUtopia in 1643. He arranged for the publication of Hobbes'sDe Cive inAmsterdam in 1647, published a French translation in 1649, published a French translation of Hobbes'De Corpore Politico, or the Elements of Law in 1652, and helped secure a publisher for Hobbes's own Latin translation ofLeviathan in 1668. His collectedLettres et discours de M. de Sorbière, sur diverses matières curieuses, published in Paris, 1660, are imbued with the spirit of compromise, reconciling science and theology and separating science frommetaphysics. His life of Gassendi was prefixed to the collected edition of Gassendi's writings, 1658. Besides Gassendi and Hobbes, he corresponded withMarin Mersenne,François de La Mothe Le Vayer and other prominent thinkers of the day.[3]
In 1663–1664, Sorbière visitedEngland, where in 1663 he was inducted into theRoyal Society. In 1664 he published an account of his stay,Relation d'un voyage en Angleterre, où sont touchées plusieurs choses, qui regardent l'estat des sciences, et de la religion (L. Billaine, Paris),[4] in which he offered his comments on how bad the food was, how bad the inns were and imputed to the Royal Society the intention of developing a library. This provokedThomas Sprat (then spokesman for and historian of the Society) to publishObservations upon Monsieur de Sorbier's Voyage into England (London, 1665) as a reply to Sorbière's perceived insults against both English culture and the Society in particular. In order to avoid further international controversy, Sorbière was held under arrest for four months in France, andCharles II of England prohibited any further responses.
Sorbière's conversion fromCalvinism to Catholicism, which opened a career to him, has been interpreted in a political light.[5]
