The Scientific Revolution: A Historiographical InquiryUniversity of Chicago Press, 1994 M10 3 - 662 pages In this first book-length historiographical study of the Scientific Revolution, H. Floris Cohen examines the body of work on the intellectual, social, and cultural origins of early modern science. Cohen critically surveys a wide range of scholarship since the nineteenth century, offering new perspectives on how the Scientific Revolution changed forever the way we understand the natural world and our place in it. Cohen's discussions range from scholarly interpretations of Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, to the question of why the Scientific Revolution took place in seventeenth-century Western Europe, rather than in ancient Greece, China, or the Islamic world. Cohen contends that the emergence of early modern science was essential to the rise of the modern world, in the way it fostered advances in technology. A valuable entrée to the literature on the Scientific Revolution, this book assesses both a controversial body of scholarship, and contributes to understanding how modern science came into the world. |
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17th century 17th-century science Alexandre Koyré appeared argument Aristotelian astronomy Baconian Ben-David's birth of early Burtt chapter Chinese Civilisation in China civilization conception contribution Copernicus corpuscularian Descartes Dijksterhuis discovery discussed domain Duhem early modern science emergence of early ence essay Études European event example experiment experimental explanation fact Galileo Grand Titration Greek science Hermetic historians historiography of science history of science Hooykaas human Ibidem idea intellectual Islamic science issue Joseph Needham Kepler knowledge Koyré Kuhn Kuhn's mathematical mechanical philosophy medieval Merton thesis metaphysics method motion Muslim Needham Newton origins of early overall particular phenomena physics present principal problem Renaissance Revolution in Science rise of early Sayili sceptical Science and Civilisation Scientific Revolution scientists sense social society T.S. Kuhn taken theory things THOUGHT ON NATURE tific Revolution tion topic tradition turn WESTERN EUROPE Westfall Whewell Whewell's world-view Yates Zilsel