Author: J. L. Heilbron
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520045552
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description

Author: J. L. Heilbron
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520309987
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Elements of Early Modern Physics comprises the two long introductory chapters of J. L. Heilbron's monumental work Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics plus a concluding summary of the remaining chapters. Heilbron opens with a presentation of the general principles of physical theory and a description of the institutional frameworks in which physics were cultivated in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He argues that the single most important contributor to physics in the seventeenth century was the Catholic Church. In the first half of the eighteenth century, Cartesian and Newtonian physicists disagreed over principles but thought in similar terms and cultivated the same sort of qualitative natural philosophy. Work towards an exact physics, which took on important dimensions after 1770, confounded the programs of both. Heilbron shows that by attending too closely to the Copernican revolution and the confrontation of great philosophical systems, historians have seriously misjudged the character of early modern science. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1982.

Author: Elizabethanne A. Boran
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004336656
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Reading Newton in Early Modern Europe investigates how, when, where and why Newton’s Principia was interpreted by readers in Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, England and Ireland. University textbooks and popular simplified vernacular texts created new audiences for early modern science.

Author: Alfred Theodore Goble
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 568

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Author: Pablo Bustinduy
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 1399527835
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
How did early modern philosophy of space shape the modern concept of political universalism? In this book, Pablo Bustinduy persuasively argues that political universalism emerged from both the developments of Newtonian science and the formulation of the modern philosophy of the State. In the metaphysics of an open, empty, abstract and absolute space, Bustinduy suggests, the universalist project of modern politics found its logical model and foundation. There, the anxiety of a dislocated world was overcome, and the ontology of modern physics found a specific political expression that, despite being besieged by multiple crises, still animates our political imagination. By offering a political reading of early modern philosophy of space, Space and Political Universalism in Early Modern Physics and Philosophy reveals the connections between the logical development of early modern science, the contemporary elaborations of the philosophy of the State, and the historical articulations of the Westphalian system, early capitalist social formations, and the European colonial project. In doing so, it offers a powerful reflection on how we might detach democracy from the 'perilous metaphysics' of infinite space that has engendered political violence and domination, positing space as an emptiness that prevents the closure of the political itself.

Author: John L. Heilbron
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199883769
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
With over 150 alphabetically arranged entries about key scientists, concepts, discoveries, technological innovations, and learned institutions, the Oxford Guide to Physics and Astronomy traces the history of physics and astronomy from the Renaissance to the present. For students, teachers, historians, scientists, and readers of popular science books such as Galileo's Daughter, this guide deciphers the methods and philosophies of physics and astronomy as well as the historical periods from which they emerged. Meant to serve the lay reader and the professional alike, this book can be turned to for the answer to how scientists learned to measure the speed of light, or consulted for neat, careful summaries of topics as complicated as quantum field theory and as vast as the universe. The entries, each written by a noted scholar and edited by J. L. Heilbron, Professor of History and Vice Chancellor, Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, reflect the most up-to-date research and discuss the applications of the scientific disciplines to the wider world of religion, law, war, art and literature. No other source on these two branches of science is as informative or as inviting. Thoroughly cross-referenced and accented by dozens of black and white illustrations, the Oxford Guide to Physics and Astronomy is the source to turn to for anyone looking for a quick explanation of alchemy, x-rays and any type of matter or energy in between.

Author: Agustín Udías
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319083651
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
This book presents a comprehensive history of the many contributions the Jesuits made to science from their founding to the present. It also links the Jesuits dedication to science with their specific spirituality which tries to find God in all things. The book begins with Christopher Clavius, professor of mathematics in the Roman College between 1567 and 1595, the initiator of this tradition. It covers Jesuits scientific contributions in mathematics, astronomy, physics and cartography up until the suppression of the order by the Pope in 1773. Next, the book details the scientific work the Jesuits pursued after their restoration in 1814. It examines the establishment of a network of observatories throughout the world; details contributions made to the study of tropical hurricanes, earthquakes and terrestrial magnetism and examines such important figures as Angelo Secchi, Stephen J. Perry, James B. Macelwane and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. From their founding to the present, Jesuits have trodden an uncommon path to the frontiers where the Christian message is not yet known. Jesuits’ work in science is also an interesting chapter in the general problem of the relation between science and religion. This book provides readers with a complete portrait of the Jesuit scientific tradition. Its engaging story will appeal to those with an interest in the history of science, the history of the relations between science and religion and the history of Jesuits.

Author: Pietro Daniel Omodeo
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319673785
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
This volume considers contingency as a historical category resulting from the combination of various intellectual elements – epistemological, philosophical, material, as well as theological and, broadly speaking, intellectual. With contributions ranging from fields as diverse as the histories of physics, astronomy, astrology, medicine, mechanics, physiology, and natural philosophy, it explores the transformation of the notion of contingency across the late-medieval, Renaissance, and the early modern period. Underpinned by a necessitated vision of nature, seventeenth century mechanism widely identified apparent natural irregularities with the epistemological limits of a certain explanatory framework. However, this picture was preceded by, and in fact emerged from, a widespread characterization of contingency as an ontological trait of nature, typical of late-Scholastic and Renaissance science. On these bases, this volume shows how epistemological categories, which are preconditions of knowledge as “historically-situated a priori” and, seemingly, self-evident, are ultimately rooted in time. Contingency is intrinsic to scientific practice. Whether observing the behaviour of a photon, diagnosing a patient, or calculating the orbit of a distant planet, scientists face the unavoidable challenge of dealing with data that differ from their models and expectations. However, epistemological categories are not fixed in time. Indeed, there is something fundamentally different in the way an Aristotelian natural philosopher defined a wonder or a “monstrous” birth as “contingent”, a modern scientist defines the unexpected result of an experiment, and a quantum physicist the behavior of a photon. Although to each inquirer these instances appeared self-evidently contingent, each also employs the concept differently.

Author: Dana Jalobeanu
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3319310690
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 2267

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Book Description
This Encyclopedia offers a fresh, integrated and creative perspective on the formation and foundations of philosophy and science in European modernity. Combining careful contextual reconstruction with arguments from traditional philosophy, the book examines methodological dimensions, breaks down traditional oppositions such as rationalism vs. empiricism, calls attention to gender issues, to ‘insiders and outsiders’, minor figures in philosophy, and underground movements, among many other topics. In addition, and in line with important recent transformations in the fields of history of science and early modern philosophy, the volume recognizes the specificity and significance of early modern science and discusses important developments including issues of historiography (such as historical epistemology), the interplay between the material culture and modes of knowledge, expert knowledge and craft knowledge. This book stands at the crossroads of different disciplines and combines their approaches – particularly the history of science, the history of philosophy, contemporary philosophy of science, and intellectual and cultural history. It brings together over 100 philosophers, historians of science, historians of mathematics, and medicine offering a comprehensive view of early modern philosophy and the sciences. It combines and discusses recent results from two very active fields: early modern philosophy and the history of (early modern) science. Editorial Board EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Dana Jalobeanu University of Bucharest, Romania Charles T. Wolfe Ghent University, Belgium ASSOCIATE EDITORS Delphine Bellis University Nijmegen, The Netherlands Zvi Biener University of Cincinnati, OH, USA Angus Gowland University College London, UK Ruth Hagengruber University of Paderborn, Germany Hiro Hirai Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands Martin Lenz University of Groningen, The Netherlands Gideon Manning CalTech, Pasadena, CA, USA Silvia Manzo University of La Plata, Argentina Enrico Pasini University of Turin, Italy Cesare Pastorino TU Berlin, Germany Lucian Petrescu Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium Justin E. H. Smith University de Paris Diderot, France Marius Stan Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA Koen Vermeir CNRS-SPHERE + Université de Paris, France Kirsten Walsh University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Author: Lloyd Strickland
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319388304
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
This book presents new research into key areas of the work of German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716). Reflecting various aspects of Leibniz’s thought, this book offers a collection of original research arranged into four separate themes: Science, Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Religion and Theology. With in-depth articles by experts such as Maria Rosa Antognazza, Nicholas Jolley, Agustín Echavarría, Richard Arthur and Paul Lodge, this book is an invaluable resource not only for readers just beginning to discover Leibniz, but also for scholars long familiar with his philosophy and eager to gain new perspectives on his work.