I moti circolari nella meccanica della vita in Descartes: embriologia e nutrizione nella medicina e nella botanica

ABSTRACT – In this article I aim to discuss the nature and diversity of circular motions in Descartes’ science of life, namely in his physiology, medicine, and botany. Drawing from several posthumous notes contained in his biomedical manuscripts, from the Primae cogitationes circa generationem animalium and the Excerpta anatomica, from Descartes’ correspondence, and La description du corps humain, I explore his interpretation of the basic functions of living bodies: their generation, nutrition, and growth. What emerges is not merely a more exhaustive explanation of these functions that can fill the gaps of his early physiology in L’Homme, but also a mechanics of life according to which one can a) differentiate between inert and living bodies, b) reconstruct the functions of life, and c) define the boundaries of a science of life within Descartes’ mechanical physics.