Observations upon Experimental Philosophy, Abridged: with Related Texts

by Margaret Cavendish, Gwendolyn Marshall (Editor)

Overview

"Margaret Cavendish's philosophical work is at last taking its rightful place in the history of seventeenth-century thought, but her writings are so voluminous and wide-ranging that introducing her work to students has been difficult—at least until this volume came along. This carefully edited abridgment of Observations upon Experimental Philosophy will be indispensable for making Cavendish's fascinating ideas accessible to students. Marshall's Introduction provides a helpful overview of themes in Cavendish's natural philosophy, and the footnotes contain useful background information about some of the texts and philosophers that Cavendish mentions. The additional selections from Descartes, Hobbes, Boyle, and Hooke also help contextualize Cavendish's views." —Deborah Boyle, College of Charleston

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781624665141
Publisher:	Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Publication date:	09/01/2016
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	136
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Eugene Marshall is Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Florida International University.

Table of Contents

Editor's Introduction

• Life and Works
• Natural Philosophy
• Other Works, Other Themes
• Reading Cavendish Today
• A Note on This Edition

Observations upon Experimental Philosophy

• Chapters 1-3, 5, 15-17, 19-21, 25-26, 31, 35-17

Further Observations upon Experimental Philosophy

• Chapters 2-3, 5-8, 10-11, 13-15

Selections from the Writings of Cavendish's Contemporaries

• From The Principles of Philosophy, by Rene Descartes
• From Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes
• From The Usefulness of Experimental Philosophy, By Robert Boyle
• From Micrographic, by Robert Hooke
• From The Excellence and Grounds of the Mechanical Natural Philosophy, by Robert Boyle

Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"An excellent introduction to an interesting but neglected voice in early-modern philosophy. Though her views don't fit neatly into the standard story of the development of natural philosophy in the period, Margaret Cavendish very much deserves to be read and appreciated for the alternatives she presents to what became the dominant picture. Marshall's Introduction and selection of texts allow the student to appreciate the diversity of views available at that crucial moment when the philosophical canon was being formed." —Daniel Garber, Princeton University

From the Publisher