"Here is a well-known story. Before sometime in the early modern period, Europeans believed that knowledge of nature came solely from reading books, above all those of Aristotle. Then the humanist re-discovery and translation of various ancient philosophical works led the number of "authorities" to grow, and alongside a monolithic "Aristotelianism" emerged any number of "-isms": Stoicism, Epicureanism, Platonism, Skepticism, and so on. Gradually, philosophers realized that they need not need rely on authorities at all, and began to use their own reason, coupled with experience and experiment. Scholasticism and humanism were dead, and the "Age of Reason" had begun, with Descartes as its iconoclastic father (perhaps with a little help from Bacon)"--

A collection of cutting-edge scholarship on the close interaction of philosophy with science at the birth of the modern age.

A comprehensive and authoritative guide to developments in life and earth sciences since 1800.

The early modern era produced the Scientific Revolution, which originated our present understanding of the natural world. Concurrently, philosophers established the conceptual foundations of modernity. This rich and comprehensive volume surveys and illuminates the numerous and complicated interconnections between philosophical and scientific thought as both were radically transformed from the late sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century. The chapters explore reciprocal influences between philosophy and physics, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, and other disciplines, and show how thinkers responded to an immense range of intellectual, material, and institutional influences. The volume offers a unique perspicuity, viewing the entire landscape of early modern philosophy and science, and also marks an epoch in contemporary scholarship, surveying recent contributions and suggesting future investigations for the next generation of scholars and students.

"Here is a well-known story. Before sometime in the early modern period, Europeans believed that knowledge of nature came solely from reading books, above all those of Aristotle. Then the humanist re-discovery and translation of various ancient philosophical works led the number of "authorities" to grow, and alongside a monolithic "Aristotelianism" emerged any number of "-isms": Stoicism, Epicureanism, Platonism, Skepticism, and so on. Gradually, philosophers realized that they need not need rely on authorities at all, and began to use their own reason, coupled with experience and experiment. Scholasticism and humanism were dead, and the "Age of Reason" had begun, with Descartes as its iconoclastic father (perhaps with a little help from Bacon)"--

This volume in the highly respected Cambridge History of Science series is devoted to the history of science, medicine and mathematics of the Old World in antiquity. Organized by topic and culture, its essays by distinguished scholars offer the most comprehensive and up-to-date history of ancient science currently available. Together, they reveal the diversity of goals, contexts, and accomplishments in the study of nature in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, and India. Intended to provide a balanced and inclusive treatment of the ancient world, contributors consider scientific, medical and mathematical learning in the cultures associated with the ancient world.

This book challenges the traditional historiography of the Scientific Revolution, probably the single most important unifying concept in the history of science. Usually referring to the period from Copernicus to Newton (roughly 1500 to 1700), the Scientific Revolution is considered to be the central episode in the history of science, the historical moment at which that unique way of looking at the world that we call 'modern science' and its attendant institutions emerged. It has been taken as the terminus a quo of all that followed. Starting with a dialogue between Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs and Richard S. Westfall, whose understanding of the Scientific Revolution differed in important ways, the papers in this volume reconsider canonical figures, their areas of study, and the formation of disciplinary boundaries during this seminal period of European intellectual history.