The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science

by E. A. Burtt

Overview

To the medieval thinker, man was the center of creation and all of nature existed purely for his benefit. The shift from the philosophy of the Middle Ages to the modern view of humanity’s less central place in the universe ranks as the greatest revolution in the history of Western thought, and this classic in the philosophy of science describes and analyzes how that profound change occurred.
A fascinating analysis of the works of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Descartes, Hobbes, Gilbert, Boyle, and Newton, it not only establishes the reasons for the triumph of the modern perspective, but also accounts for certain limitations in this view that continue to characterize contemporary scientific thought. A criticism as well as a history of the change that made possible the rise of modern science, this volume is also a guide to understanding the methods and accomplishments of the great philosopher-scientists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780486425511
Publisher:	Dover Publications
Publication date:	01/27/2003
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
(A) The Historical Problem Suggested by the Nature of Modern Thought
(B) The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science the Key to This Problem
CHAPTER II: COPERNICUS AND KEPLER
(A) The Problem of the New Astronomy
(B) Metaphysical Bearings of the Pre-Copernican Progress in Mathematics
(C) Ultimate Implications of Copernicus' Step-Revival of Pythagoreanism
(D) Kepler's Early Acceptance of the New World-Scheme
"(E) First Formulation of the New Metaphysics-Causality, Quantity, Primary and Secondary Qualities"
CHAPTER III: GALILEO
"(A) The Science of "Local Motion"
(B) Nature as Mathematical Order-Galileo's Method
(C) The Subjectivity of Secondary Qualities
"(D) Motion, Space, and Time"
(E) The Nature of Causality-God and the Physical World-Positivism
CHAPTER IV: DESCARTES
(A) Mathematics as the Key to Knowledge
(B) Geometrical Conception of the Physical Universe
"(C) "Res extensa" and "Res cogitans"
(D) The Problem of Mind and Body
CHAPTER V: SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLISH PHILOSOPHY
(A) Hobbes' Attack on the Cartesian Dualism
(B) Treatment of Secondary Qualities and Causality
(C) More's Notion of Extension as a Category of Spirit
"(D) The "Spirit of Nature" "
(E) Space as the Divine Presence
"(F) Barrow's Philosophy of Method, Space, and Time"
CHAPTER VI: GILBERT AND BOYLE
(A) The Non-Mathematical Scientific Current
(B) Boyle's Importance as Scientist and Philosopher
(C) Acceptance and Defence of the Mechanical World-View
(D) Value of Qualitative and Teleological Explanations
(E) Insistence on Reality of Secondary Qualities-Conception of Man
(F) Pessimistic View of Human Knowledge-Positivism
(G) Boyle's Philosophy of the Ether
(H) God's Relation to the Mechanical World
(I) Summary of the Pre-Newtonian Development
CHAPTER VII: THE METAPHYSICS OF NEWTON
Section 1: Newton's Method
(A) The Mathematical Aspect
(B) The Empirical Aspect
"(C) Attack on "Hypotheses"
(D) Newton's Union of Mathematics and Experiment
Section 2: The Doctrine of Positivism
"Section 3: Newton's General Conception of the World, and of Man's Relation to It"
"Section 4: Space, Time, and Mass"
(A) Mass
(B) Space and Time
(C) Criticism of Newton's Philosophy of Space and Time
Section 5: Newton's Conception of the Ether
(A) The Function of the Ether
(B) Newton's Early Speculations
(C) Development of a More Settled Theory
Section 6: God-Creator and Preserver of the Order of the World
(A) Newton as Theologian
(B) God's Present Duties in the Cosmic Economy
(C) The Historical Relations of Newton's Theism
CHAPTER VIII: CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX