Essays on Galileo and the History and Philosophy of Science: Volume II

by Stillman Drake, Trevor H. Levere (Introduction), Noel M. Swerdlow (Introduction)

Overview

For forty years, beginning with the publication of the first modern English translation of the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Stillman Drake was the most original and productive scholar of Galileo's scientific work of our age. During that time, he published sixteen books on Galileo, including translations of almost all the major writings, and Galileo at Work, the most comprehensive study of Galileo's life and works ever written. Drake also published about 130 papers, of which nearly 100 are on Galileo and the rest on related aspects of the history and philosophy of science. The three-volume collection Essays on Galileo and the History and Philosophy of Science includes 80 of those papers.

Volume I contains a bibliography of the writings of Stillman Drake, biographical sketches of both Galileo and Drake, and various essays covering the broad range of Galileo's scientific endeavors, including outlines of the humanistic and religious background of his era. Other essays take up textual and bibliographical issues, analysing Galileo's mass of notes, treatises, and numerous fragments, previously collected in folios, manuscripts, and unreliable copies. Drake's wide-ranging essays cover Galileo's place in the philosophy of science, his relation to his forebears and impact on posterity, and his contribution to astronomy. In addition, the essays take up ongoing controversies, such as Galileo's stance on the affinity of science with the corpus of human knowledge.

Volume I of Stillman Drake's Essays on Galileo and the History and Philosophy of Science serves as a comprehensive introduction to Galileo's life, science, and writings, and with its forthcoming companion volumes, will indeed be a fitting tribute to the memory of one of Canada's most accomplished scholars.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802081643
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	07/28/1999
Series:	Heritage
Pages:	376
Product dimensions:	6.01(w) x 9.01(h) x 1.13(d)

About the Author

Stillman Drake was Professor Emeritus at University of Toronto and his illustrious academic career spans over four decades. T.H. Levere is Professor and Director, Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto.
N.M. Swerdlow is Professor, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago.

Table of Contents

	Preface
	Acknowledgments
	Introduction
	Prologue: Drake's Speech on Receiving the International Galileo Prize for History of Italian Science
Part I	Galileo: Biographical and General
1	Galileo: A Biographical Sketch
2	The Scientific Personality of Galileo
3	Galileo's Explorations in Science
4	Galileo's Language: Mathematics and Poetry in a New Science
5	Mathematics, Astronomy, and Physics in the Work of Galileo
6	Measurement in Galileo's Science
7	Exact Sciences, Primitive Instruments, and Galileo
8	The Accademia dei Lincei
9	On the Conflicting Documents of Galileo's Trial
10	Galileo and the Church
Part II	Galileo: Bibliographical and Textual Studies
1	Galileo Gleanings XXI: On the Probable Order of Galileo's Notes on Motion
2	Dating Unpublished Notes Such As Galileo's on Motion
3	Galileo Gleanings XXIV: The Evolution of De motu
4	Galileo's Pre-Paduan Writings: Years, Sources, Motivations
5	Galileo in English Literature of the Seventeenth Century
Part III	Galileo: Scientific Method and Philosophy of Science
1	Galileo and the Career of Philosophy
2	Ptolemy, Galileo, and Scientific Method
3	Galileo's Procedures, and Metaphysics
4	Theory and Practice in Early Modern Physics
Part IV	Galileo: Astronomy
1	Copernicanism in Bruno, Kepler, and Galileo
2	Kepler and Galileo
3	Galileo's Steps to Full Copernicanism, and Back
4	Galileo's "Platonic" Cosmogony and Kepler's Prodromus
5	Galileo's First Telescopic Observations
6	Galileo, Kepler, and Phases of Venus
7	Galileo and Satellite Prediction
8	Galileo's Sighting of Neptune (with Charles T. Kowal)
9	Galileo Gleanings III: A Kind Word for Sizzi
10	A Neglected Galilean letter
	Index

Editorial Reviews

In this three-volume set, Swerdlow (U. of Toronto) and Levere (U. of Chicago) provide a synopsis of the life and work of the prolific Galileo scholar, Stillman Drake (deceased, U. of Toronto) as an introduction to their selection of about 80 of Drake's essays. The essays are grouped by subject: biographical and textual studies, scientific method and philosophy of science, astronomy, a translation and essays on the , motion and mechanics, instruments, history of science, and philosophy of science and language. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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