Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge in Transition, 1500-1700 Third Edition

by Peter Dear

Overview

This thoroughly revised third edition of an award-winning book offers a keen insight into how the Scientific Revolution happened and why. Covering central scientific figures, including Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, and Bacon, this new edition features:

• Greater treatment of alchemy and associated craft activities to reflect trends in current scholarship
• Extended material on Francis Bacon
• A new historiographical essay

Reflecting on the origins of scientific practice in early modern Europe, Peter Dear traces the revolution in thought that changed the natural world from something to be contemplated into something to be used.

Concise and readable, this book is ideal for students who are studying the Scientific Revolution and its impact on the early modern world. The first edition was the winner of the Watson Davis and Helen Miles Davis Prize of the History of Science Society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691194349
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	03/05/2019
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Peter Dear is professor of history and science and technology studies at Cornell University. He is the author of several books, including The Intelligibility of Nature: How Science Makes Sense of the World.

Table of Contents

List of Figures vi

Preface viii

Introduction: Natural Philosophy and Instrumentality 1

1 'What was Worth Knowing' in 1500 10

2 Humanism and Ancient Wisdom: How to Learn Things in the Sixteenth Century 29

3 Paracelsus and Bacon: Philosophy as Practical Knowledge 47

4 Mathematical Practitioners and Mathematical Philosophers 61

5 Mechanism and Corpuscles: Descartes Builds a Universe 81

6 Extra-Curricular Activities: New Places for Natural Knowledge 102

7 Experiment: How to Learn Things about Nature in the Seventeenth Century 131

8 Cartesians and Newtonians 151

Conclusion: What was Worth Knowing by the Eighteenth Century? 170

Notes and References 173

Documentation and Further Reading 182

Dramatis Personae 197

Glossary of Major Terms 201

Index 205

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Succinct, well-organized, and clearly written, this is an excellent account of the intellectual transformation of our understanding of the natural world between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries."—Paula Findlen, Stanford University

"This book is a clear first choice for students and teachers. Incorporating cutting-edge scholarship, it matches breadth of thematic coverage with clarity of exposition and takes the reader gently but firmly through the field."—Simon Ditchfield, University of York

"[Dear] throws interesting light on the changing criteria used to evaluate natural knowledge, especially the increasing emphasis on experiment. . . . As a full and accurate account of such matters, this book is the best available, and I would recommend it to anyone."—Michael Hunter, Nature

Editorial Reviews

"Succinct, well-organized, and clearly written, this is an excellent account of the intellectual transformation of our understanding of the natural world between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries."—Paula Findlen, Stanford University


"This book is a clear first choice for students and teachers. Incorporating cutting-edge scholarship, it matches breadth of thematic coverage with clarity of exposition and takes the reader gently but firmly through the field."—Simon Ditchfield, University of York


"[Dear] throws interesting light on the changing criteria used to evaluate natural knowledge, especially the increasing emphasis on experiment. . . . As a full and accurate account of such matters, this book is the best available, and I would recommend it to anyone."—Michael Hunter, Nature

From the Publisher