Description
Book SynopsisIn this book, published in 1686, the scientist Robert Boyle attacked prevailing notions of the natural world which depicted 'Nature' as a wise, benevolent and purposeful being. His Free Enquiry represents one of the subtlest statements concerning the philosophical issues raised by the mechanical philosophy to emerge from the period of the scientific revolution.
Trade Review"This work, which admirably testifies to Boyle's equal concern for 'truth and philosophical freedom' and 'religion', deserves this new edition. And, as Davis and Hunter suggest at the end of their introduction, today an essay on the idea of nature can have more than a simple historical significance." Guido Giglioni, Isis
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Chronology; A note on the text; A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature; The Preface; Section I; Section II; Section III; Section IV; Section V; Section VI; Section VII; Section VIII; Glossary; Index.
