Overview
The philosophy of Robert Boyle (1627-1691) is a hot topic in early modern philosophy. Boyle was at the centre of the scientific community of 17th-century England, and an accurate view of the Enlightenment scientific revolution is impossible without recognition of the contributions that he made. Work on Boyle's philosophy is also shedding light on contemporary issues in the philosophy of science - it can help us understand the nature of scientific explanation and the role that the mechanical model of explanation plays in present-day science. Boyle's mechanical philosophy ushered in a new explanatory model for science and even though his corpuscular hypothesis failed, its failure does not entail the failure of the explanatory model of which it was an instance. Boyle on Fire demonstrates these points by examining Boyle's work concerning a method of experiment common in the seventeenth century called Fire Analysis. In the Sceptical Chymist (1661), Boyle attacks elemental theories of chemical explanation primarily by raising objections against Aristotelian and Paracelsian interpretations of fire analysis. The book reconstructs Boyle's corpuscular account of fire analysis and then compares it to these objections. This process reveals those characteristics of mechanical explanations that make them epistemologically superior to elemental theories of chemical explanation, and it is these characteristics that survive the death of the corpuscular hypothesis and have become an enduring feature of the scientific enterprise.
Full Product Details
Author: William Eaton
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 2.20cm
, Length: 23.40cm
Weight: 0.480kg
ISBN: 9780826478276
ISBN 10: 0826478271
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 15 May 2004
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Language: English
Reviews
'Boyle on Fire is a groundbreaking study, and the first book-length treatment of Boyle's epistemology and philosophy of science. The study of Boyle's philosophy is a popular topic in current work on early modern philosophy... Eaton's project not only provides an important new interpretation of Boyle's role in the scientific revolution, it also applies Boyle's philosophy to issues in contemporary philosophy of science' Robert Hahn, Southern Illinois University and University of Missouri at St. Louis 'Eaton's study of Boyle's mechanical philosophy has much to offer to philosophers and historians alike. The fact that it is clearly written and includes background to Boyle's context as well as the secondary literature on Boyle also makes it an ideal text for students' Helen Hattab, University of Houston
Author Information
William R. Eaton teaches philosophy at Georgia Southern University.
