Reconfiguring the World: Nature, God, and Human Understanding from the Middle Ages to Early Modern Europe

by Margaret J. Osler

Overview

Change in human understanding of the natural world during the early modern period marks one of the most important episodes in intellectual history. This era is often referred to as the scientific revolution, but recent scholarship has challenged traditional accounts. Here, in Reconfiguring the World, Margaret J. Osler treats the development of the sciences in Europe from the early sixteenth to the late seventeenth centuries as a complex and multifaceted process. The worldview embedded in modern science is a relatively recent development. Osler aims to convey a nuanced understanding of how the natural world looked to early modern thinkers such as Galileo, Descartes, Boyle, and Newton. She describes investigation and understanding of the natural world in terms that the thinkers themselves would have used. Tracing the views of the natural world to their biblical, Greek, and Arabic sources, Osler demonstrates the impact of the Renaissance recovery of ancient texts, printing, the Protestant Reformation, and the exploration of the New World. She shows how the traditional disciplinary boundaries established by Aristotle changed dramatically during this period and finds the tensions of science and religion expressed as differences between natural philosophy and theology. Far from a triumphalist account, Osler's story includes false starts and dead ends. Ultimately, she shows how a few gifted students of nature changed the way we see ourselves and the universe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801896569
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	09/01/2010
Series:	Johns Hopkins Introductory Studies in the History of Science
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Margaret J. Osler is a professor of history at the University of Calgary.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

1 The Western View of the World before 1500 3

2 Winds of Change: Searching for a New Philosophy of Nature 30

3 Observing the Heavens: From Aristotelian Cosmology to the Uniformity of Nature 61

4 Creating a New Philosophy of Nature 77

5 Shifting Boundaries: From Mixed Mathematics to Mathematical Physics 94

6 Exploring the Properties of Matter: Alchemy and Chemistry 118

7 Studying Life: Plants, Animals, and Humans 132

8 Rethinking the Universe: Newton on Gravity and God 147

Epilogue 165

Suggested Further Reading 169

Index 177

What People are Saying About This

Paul Lawrence Farber

Reconfiguring the World is a rich story that captures much of the best historiography of the past couple of decades -- the exciting new work on alchemy, the religious roots of modern science, the contributions of Arabic thinkers (not just their 'transmitting' of Greek and Roman knowledge), and the integration of natural history and natural philosophy.

— Paul Lawrence Farber, Oregon State University

From the Publisher

Reconfiguring the World is a rich story that captures much of the best historiography of the past couple of decades—the exciting new work on alchemy, the religious roots of modern science, the contributions of Arabic thinkers (not just their 'transmitting' of Greek and Roman knowledge), and the integration of natural history and natural philosophy.
—Paul Lawrence Farber, Oregon State University

Editorial Reviews

An invaluable contribution to the literature of the history and philosophy of science, presented with clarity, intelligence, and economy . . . Highly recommended.
--Choice

[This] book would be an excellent key text in courses on theology, philosophy, science or history, since it does not talk down to the reader well-versed in these areas while remaining accessible to the non-specialist. In this sense Osler follows in the footsteps of the people she so obviously admires, breaking down interdisciplinary boundaries and suggesting new ways of seeing the (historical) world.
--Benita Blessing, European History Quarterly

Given Osler's status as an expert on both the scientific revolution and the relations between science and religion in the early modern world, it is no surprise that the book offers and authoritative overview of changing knowledge of the natural world during this period.
--Peter Harrison, Isis

Osler's approach is steady and the language she uses plain and concise, making Reconfiguring the World a very enjoyable book to read, interesting and easily accessible for the reader who has yet to make acquaintance with these important topics.
--Francesco Barreca, Nuncius

This book is an apt legacy for a scholar who, while lauded for her research and writing, was also well-loved in the classroom and who took great pains as a teacher and thesis supervisor. Aimed at undergraduates, it will have its place in both history of science courses and surveys of the early modern period. It will as well satisfy anyone in need of a primer on the nature of early modern science.
--Gary W. Jenkins, Sixteenth Century Journal

From the Publisher

Given Osler's status as an expert on both the scientific revolution and the relations between science and religion in the early modern world, it is no surprise that the book offers and authoritative overview of changing knowledge of the natural world during this period.

Isis - Peter Harrison

[This] book would be an excellent key text in courses on theology, philosophy, science or history, since it does not talk down to the reader well-versed in these areas while remaining accessible to the non-specialist. In this sense Osler follows in the footsteps of the people she so obviously admires, breaking down interdisciplinary boundaries and suggesting new ways of seeing the (historical) world.

European History Quarterly - Benita Blessing

An invaluable contribution to the literature of the history and philosophy of science, presented with clarity, intelligence, and economy . . . Highly recommended.

Choice

Osler's approach is steady and the language she uses plain and concise, making Reconfiguring the World a very enjoyable book to read, interesting and easily accessible for the reader who has yet to make acquaintance with these important topics.

Nuncius - Francesco Barreca

This book is an apt legacy for a scholar who, while lauded for her research and writing, was also well-loved in the classroom and who took great pains as a teacher and thesis supervisor. Aimed at undergraduates, it will have its place in both history of science courses and surveys of the early modern period. It will as well satisfy anyone in need of a primer on the nature of early modern science.

Sixteenth Century Journal - Gary W. Jenkins

Osler's approach is steady and the language she uses plain and concise, making Reconfiguring the World a very enjoyable book to read, interesting and easily accessible for the reader who has yet to make acquaintance with these important topics.

— Francesco Barreca

Nuncius