Introduction: The Digbean Way, or Navigating Between the ‘Old’ and the ‘New’

Kenelm Digby was ‘one of the most influential natural philosophers’ (Clericuzio 2000, 81) of his time, whose ‘posthumous reputation as a natural philosopher ought to be much greater than it is’ (Henry 2009, 43). He had an impressive range of intellectual ties: he spent a few years at Gresham College, was an active member of the Mersenne circle, frequented the Cavendish Circle, had ties with the Hartlib circle, was part of a Parisian alchemical circle, was among the first members of the Royal Society, and was one of the most prominent members of the Blackloist group of English Catholics. In his own time and context, then, he was very much an ‘insider’. And, yet, as John Henry (2009) has observed, in the historiography, Digby has remained the consummate outsider: notable enough to be occasionally mentioned in relation to others, but, for the most part, treated as too marginal to receive significant attention in his own right. Recently, however, historians of early modern philosophy and science have slowly begun to put Digby’s work back onto the map. This volume aims to contribute to this attempt.