This volume examines the influence that Epicureanism and Stoicism, two philosophies of nature and human nature articulated during classical times, exerted on the development of European thought to the Enlightenment. Although the influence of these philosophies has often been noted in certain areas, such as the influence of Stoicism on the development of Christian thought and the influence of Epicureanism on modern materialism, the chapters in this volume forward a new awareness of the degree to which these philosophies and their continued interaction informed European intellectual life well...
This volume examines the influence that Epicureanism and Stoicism, two philosophies of nature and human nature articulated during classical times, exe...
The difference between Pierre Gassendi's (1592-1655) and Rene Descartes' (1596-1650) versions of the mechanical philosophy directly reflected the differences in their theological presuppositions. Gassendi described a world utterly contingent on divine will and expressed his conviction that empirical methods are the only way to acquire knowledge about the natural world. Descartes, on the contrary, described a world in which God had embedded necessary relations, some of which enable us to have a priori knowledge of substantial parts of the natural world. In this book, Professor Osler explores...
The difference between Pierre Gassendi's (1592-1655) and Rene Descartes' (1596-1650) versions of the mechanical philosophy directly reflected the diff...
The difference between Pierre Gassendi's (1592-1655) and Rene Descartes' (1596-1650) versions of the mechanical philosophy directly reflected the differences in their theological presuppositions. Gassendi described a world utterly contingent on divine will and expressed his conviction that empirical methods are the only way to acquire knowledge about the natural world. Descartes, on the contrary, described a world in which God had embedded necessary relations, some of which enable us to have a priori knowledge of substantial parts of the natural world. In this book, Professor Osler explores...
The difference between Pierre Gassendi's (1592-1655) and Rene Descartes' (1596-1650) versions of the mechanical philosophy directly reflected the diff...
This collection of original essays by his former graduate students and colleagues honors Richard S. Westfall, a highly influential scholar in the history of the physical sciences and their relations with religion. The book is divided into three parts that reflect Professor Westfall's scholarly interests and activity: the life, work, and influence of Newton; science and religion; and historiographical and social studies of science. These contributions represent a variety of approaches to the history of science, including the development of scientific ideas per se, the influence of...
This collection of original essays by his former graduate students and colleagues honors Richard S. Westfall, a highly influential scholar in the hist...
The Scientific Revolution (roughly 1500 to 1700) is considered to be the central episode in the history of science, the historical moment when "modern science" and its attendant institutions emerged. This book challenges the traditional historiography of the Scientific Revolution. Starting with a dialogue between Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs and Richard S. Westfall, whose understanding of the Scientific Revolution differs in important ways, the papers in this volume reconsider canonical figures, their areas of study, and the formation of disciplinary boundaries during this seminal period of European...
The Scientific Revolution (roughly 1500 to 1700) is considered to be the central episode in the history of science, the historical moment when "modern...
The Scientific Revolution (roughly 1500 to 1700) is considered to be the central episode in the history of science, the historical moment when "modern science" and its attendant institutions emerged. This book challenges the traditional historiography of the Scientific Revolution. Starting with a dialogue between Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs and Richard S. Westfall, whose understanding of the Scientific Revolution differs in important ways, the papers in this volume reconsider canonical figures, their areas of study, and the formation of disciplinary boundaries during this seminal period of European...
The Scientific Revolution (roughly 1500 to 1700) is considered to be the central episode in the history of science, the historical moment when "modern...
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...
Change in human understanding of the natural world during the early modern period marks one of the most important episodes in intellectual history....