Description
Book SynopsisPETER DEAR is Professor of History and of Science and Technology Studies, Cornell University, USA.
Trade ReviewThis book is required reading for students and teachers of science in early modern Europe. With clear prose and a strong narrative, Dear guides the reader through the methodological and metaphysical upheavals that defined early modern science. * Michael Bycroft, University of Warwick, UK *
Revolutionizing the Sciences is a highly-engaging and readable history that both explains traditional interpretations of the Scientific Revolution and offers challenging and innovative revisions to those accounts. The book is a critical starting-point for understanding the many fascinating debates around the origins of modern science going on today. * Simon Werrett, University College London, UK *
Table of ContentsPreface Introduction: Natural Philosophy and Instrumentality 'What Was Worth Knowing' in 1500 Humanism and Ancient Wisdom: How to Learn Things in the Sixteenth Century Paracelsus and Bacon: Philosophy as Practical Knowledge Mathematical Practitioners and Mathematical Philosophers Mechanism and Corpuscles: Descartes Builds a Universe Extra-Curricular Activities: New Places for Natural Knowledge Experiment: How to Learn Things about Nature in the Seventeenth Century Cartesians and Newtonians Conclusion: What Was Worth Knowing by the Eighteenth Century? Notes and References Documentation and Further Reading Dramatis Personae Glossary of Major Terms Index.
