The Scientific Revolution and the Foundations of Modern Science (Greenwood Guides to Historic Events 1500-1900)

Designed as an introduction to the age of the scientific revolution, this book offers readers and researchers an appealing mix of narrative chapters, biographical sketches of key figures, and annotated primary documents. An overview of the period introduces the topic, and is followed by chapters on Astronomy and the Cosmos; Matter, Motion and the Cosmos; The Nature of Living Things; New Methods for the Advancement of Knowledge; Religion and Natural Philosophy; and the Influence of the Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution and the Foundations of Modern Science explains how the pursuit of natural philosophy— as science was then called—from about 1500 to 1700 created the foundation upon which modern science has been built. The profound changes in the study of the natural world in this period was made possible by social and cultural changes occurring Western Europe, and the achievements of men like Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Frances Bacon, Rene Descartes, William Harvey, and Isaac Newton. This book details their ideas and practices, as well as those of others, the concepts they overcame, and the nature of the institutions within which they worked. Cover......Page 1 The Scientific Revolution and the Foundations of Modern Science......Page 4 Copyright - ISBN: 0313323143......Page 5 CONTENTS......Page 8 ILLUSTRATIONS......Page 10 SERIES FOREWORD......Page 12 INTRODUCTION......Page 16 CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS......Page 18 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW......Page 24 The European Context......Page 25 The Watershed......Page 30 Reception and Development of the New Philosophy......Page 36 The Universe of Aristotle and Ptolemy......Page 42 The Reform of Astronomy......Page 47 Copernicanism Revised and Improved......Page 54 New Thoughts about Celestial Motions......Page 58 Summary......Page 61 MATTER, MOTION, AND THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES......Page 62 Aristotle on Matter and Motion......Page 63 Ancient and Medieval Alternatives to Aristotle......Page 64 Concepts of Matter in the Early Modern Period......Page 66 Mechanics......Page 68 Cartesian Matter and Motion......Page 71 Optics......Page 72 Magnetism and Electricity......Page 76 Experiments with the Vacuum......Page 77 Mathematics......Page 81 Isaac Newton on Mechanics and Matter......Page 82 Summary......Page 85 Traditional Concepts......Page 86 Medicine during the Renaissance......Page 88 Botany and Zoology......Page 95 The New Physiology......Page 97 Summary......Page 106 Aristotelian Methodology......Page 108 A New Epistemology......Page 110 The Mechanical Philosophy......Page 113 Experimentation......Page 117 The New Philosophy and the Wider Culture......Page 119 Summary......Page 126 RELIGION AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY......Page 128 Aristotle and Christianity......Page 129 The Reformation......Page 130 Religious Responses to the New Natural Philosophy......Page 132 The Creation and Age of the Earth......Page 138 Physico-theology......Page 141 Summary......Page 142 The Enlightenment......Page 144 The Organization and Structure of Science......Page 148 The Ways We Live and Think......Page 151 Summary......Page 153 Francis Bacon (1561–1626)......Page 154 Robert Boyle (1627–1691)......Page 156 Tycho Brahe (1546–1601)......Page 157 Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543)......Page 159 René Descartes (1596–1650)......Page 161 Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)......Page 164 Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655)......Page 168 William Gilbert (1544–1603)......Page 169 William Harvey (1578–1657)......Page 170 Robert Hooke (1635–1703)......Page 172 Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695)......Page 174 Johannes Kepler (1571–1630)......Page 175 Isaac Newton (1642–1727)......Page 178 Paracelsus (c. 1493–1541)......Page 183 Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564)......Page 184 Traditional Natural Philosophy......Page 188 The Transformation of Cosmology and Astronomy......Page 193 The Reform of the Medical Sciences......Page 202 New Methods for the Development of Natural Philosophy......Page 211 Experiment and Measurement in Natural Philosophy......Page 222 The Reformation of Mechanics......Page 225 Newton on the Laws of Motion and the Principle of Universal Gravitation......Page 232 The Nature of the Universe and Its Laws as Arguments for Design by a Creator......Page 235 GLOSSARY......Page 240 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 244 INDEX......Page 260 About the Author......Page 268 Explains how the pursuit of natural philosophy from about 1500 to 1700 created the foundation of modern science. Discusses how the profound changes in the study of the natural world in this period was made possible by social and cultural changes occurring Western Europe. Details the ideas and practices of key figures, the concepts they overcame, and the nature of the institutions within which they worked [This book] explains how the pursuit of natural philosophy - as science was then called - from about 1500 to 1700 created the foundation upon which modern science has been built ... [It was] designed as an introduction to the age of the scientific revolution.-Back cover Presents a history of science during the Renaissance, introducing the key figures of the period such as Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, and Newton, and discussing how their discoveries led to the emergence of modern science Wilbur Applebaum. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [221]-235) And Index.