David Derodon
David Derodon, also known as David de Rodon (c. 1600–1664), was a French Calvinist theologian and philosopher. Born in Die, Dauphiné, he became one of the era’s leading logicians and taught philosophy in Orange, Nîmes, and Geneva. He preferred the ideas of Gassendi to Cartesianism and kept up conversations with followers of Descartes; he even corresponded with Galileo and Descartes.
Derodon based his public lectures on Aristotle’s general principles and wrote on topics such as matter and form, causation, and the soul’s divisions into vegetable, sensitive, and rational parts. He loved debate and was quick to question ideas he seemed to agree with. He argued with Aristotle’s predicaments, the nature of universals, and he drew contrasts between Aristotle and thinkers like Plato, Democritus, and Epicurus. He enjoyed discussions on genus and species and on the tricky “Cross of the Logicians.” He even claimed that some terms cannot be defined without referencing the thing defined, and that the mind largely reflects what the senses provide.
His metaphysics were scholastic, mixing ideas from Arab philosophers, early scholastics, and some Spanish Dominican writers. He wrote many works against the Catholic Church. Notable titles include Quatre raisons pour lesquelles on doit quitter la R. P. R. (1631) and Le Tombeau de la Messe (1654); the latter was burned in 1663, and Derodon was exiled to Geneva. He also wrote against atheists, such as Dispute de la Messe and La Lumière de la raison opposée aux ténèbres de l’impiété. His complete works, Derodonis Opera Omnia, appeared in Geneva in two volumes (1664 and 1669). He died in Geneva in 1664.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 00:08 (CET).