  Another significant difference between Cartesian and Gassendist views of God is that for the latter there is no divine epistemic guarantor—indeed, for Gassendi, there is no absolute or necessary guarantee on our epistemic access altogether. There is only the contingent warrant of the senses. In the textbook account of the early modern debate among empiricists and rationalists, Gassendi plays a bit part in promoting the senses as the ultimate source of our worldly knowledge. His views are painted as a vanguard but ultimately inconsequential Continental counter to Descartes and as a slight influence on Locke's more ‘mature’ empiricism.  Gassendi's contribution is more noteworthy than all that, however. His theory of knowledge explicitly addresses historical traditions in epistemology, develops a proto-reliabilist theory of epistemic warrant, wrestles with timeless difficulties of empiricism, and forms the basis of a set of allied views on the nature of scientific investigation.