Fact, Faith and Fiction in the Development of Science: The Gifford Lectures Given in the University of St Andrews 1976In this posthumous book, the late Professor R. Hooykaas (1906-1994) conveys a lifetime of historical thought about modes of scientific advance over the centuries. In what variety of ways has the human mind, with all its subjectivity and its capacity for self-deception, but also its piercing gifts of discovery, managed to come to terms with `the whimsical tricks of nature'? Central to this erudite, penetrating, and widely ranging study is Hooykaas's distinction between facts (given by nature yet entirely subject to our mode of interpreting them), faith (broad conceptions like the idea of order, of simplicity, or of harmony), and fictions in the sense of those daring intellectual tools, such as theories and hypotheses and models, which reflect the scientist's creative imagination. Case studies drawn from the history of all branches of science (including chemistry and the earth sciences) and from Antiquity to the present day, serve to widen and to deepen the understanding of every reader (whether a historian of science or not) with a desire to learn more about the realities of the scientific pursuit. |
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 5 |
HARMONY IN NATURE | 27 |
THE PHILOSOPHERS STONE | 79 |
Copyright | |
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Fact, Faith and Fiction in the Development of Science: The Gifford Lectures ... R. Hooykaas No preview available - 2010 |
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17th century according acid alchemists analogy ancient Aristotelian Aristotle artificial astronomical atomic weight believed Bk.I Bk.II Boyle's law Buridan cause centre chemical chemist chemistry Chimie combustion compounds conception Copernican Copernicus crystals Dalton demonstrated Descartes discovery earth elements experimental experiments explain facts falling body fictions force formula Galileo gases geometrical harmony Haüy heat Hooykaas human hydrogen hypotheses Ibidem ideas Isaac Beeckman ISBN João de Castro Kepler Lavoisier magnet Manueline mathematical matter measurements mechanical mechanistic Mendeleev metal modern molecules motion natural theology Newton observation Oeuvres opinion Oresme oxide oxygen Paracelsus Paris particles Pascal phenomena philosophers phlogiston phlogiston theory physical planets Plato principle problem proportions Ptolemy Pythagoreans R.S. Cohen Ramus rational reality reason recognized religion Revolutionibus scientific scientists sense Simon Stevin simple sphere Stahl structure substances sulphur tellurium theory things Traité true truth universe velocity Vol.I Werke whereas