What Does it Mean to be an Empiricist? [electronic resource] : Empiricisms in Eighteenth Century Sciences /
Bodenmann, Siegfried.editor.
Rey, Anne-Lise.editor.
This book begins with an observation: At the time when empiricism arose and slowly established itself, the word itself had not yet been coined. Hence the central question of this volume: What does it mean to conduct empirical science in early modern Europe? How can we catch the elusive figure of the empiricist? Our answer focuses on the practices established by representative scholars. This approach allows us to demonstrate two things. First, that empiricism is not a monolith but exists in a plurality of forms. Today's understanding of the empirical sciences was gradually shaped by the exchanges among scholars combining different traditions, world views and experimental settings. Second, the long proclaimed antagonism between empiricism and rationalism is not the whole story. Our case studies show that a very fruitful exchange between both systems of thought occurred. It is a story of integration, appropriation and transformation more than one of mere opposition. We asked twelve authors to explore these fascinating new facets of empiricisms. The plurality of their voices mirrors the multiple faces of the concept itself. Every contribution can be understood as a piece of a much larger puzzle. Together, they help us better understand the emergence of empiricism and the inventiveness of the scientific enterprise.
Introduction (Siegfried BODENMANN & Anne-Lise REY) -- Part I. The Plurality of Empiricisms -- Chapter 1. Four Methods of Empirical Inquiry in the Aftermath of Newton's Challenge (Eric SCHLIESSER) -- Chapter 2. Fictitious Empiricism, Material Experiments (Marc RATCLIFF) -- Part II. Newtonianism and non-Newtonianism empiricisms -- Chapter 3. Experimentum crucis. Newton's Empiricism at the Crossroads (Philippe HAMOU) -- Chapter 4. (The Experiments of Willem Jacob 's Gravesande (Anne-Lise REY) -- Chapter 5. Empiricism as a Rhetoric of Legitimation (Siegfried BODENMANN) -- Part III. Empiricism and Rationality -- Chapter 6. Philosophical and Scientific Empiricism in the 18th Century (Catherine WILSON) -- Chapter 7. Buffon's Natural History (Thierry HOQUET) -- Chapter 8. What does it mean to be an Empiricist in Medicine? Baglivi's De praxi medica (1696) (Raphaële ANDRAULT) -- Chapter 9. Empiricism and Certainty in Science (André CHARRAK) -- Part IV. Reevaluation of the Label 'Empiricism' -- Chapter 10. Was Early Eighteenth-Century Chemistry an Empirical Science? (Bernard JOLY) -- Chapter 11. Conducting Observations and Tests (Christian LEDUC) -- Chapter 12. From Locke to Materialism (Charles T. WOLFE).
This book begins with an observation: At the time when empiricism arose and slowly established itself, the word itself had not yet been coined. Hence the central question of this volume: What does it mean to conduct empirical science in early modern Europe? How can we catch the elusive figure of the empiricist? Our answer focuses on the practices established by representative scholars. This approach allows us to demonstrate two things. First, that empiricism is not a monolith but exists in a plurality of forms. Today's understanding of the empirical sciences was gradually shaped by the exchanges among scholars combining different traditions, world views and experimental settings. Second, the long proclaimed antagonism between empiricism and rationalism is not the whole story. Our case studies show that a very fruitful exchange between both systems of thought occurred. It is a story of integration, appropriation and transformation more than one of mere opposition. We asked twelve authors to explore these fascinating new facets of empiricisms. The plurality of their voices mirrors the multiple faces of the concept itself. Every contribution can be understood as a piece of a much larger puzzle. Together, they help us better understand the emergence of empiricism and the inventiveness of the scientific enterprise.
Philosophy (General).
Arts.
Philosophy, general.
Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, multidisciplinary.
Arts.