Robert Boyle and the limits of reason
By: Jan W. Wojcik.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 243
Subjects: Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691.; Reason -- History -- 17th century.; Natural theology -- History of doctrines -- 17th century.; Philosophical theology -- History -- 17th century.; Man (Christian theology) -- History of doctrines -- 17th century.
Description: In Robert Boyle and the Limits of Reason, Jan W. Wojcik explores the theological context within which Boyle developed his views on reason's limits. Wojcik shows how Boyle's three categories of "things above reason" - the incomprehensible, the inexplicable, and the unsociable - were reflected in his conception of the goals and methods of natural philosophy.

Throughout the book, Wojcik emphasizes Boyle's remarkably unified worldview in which truths in chemistry, physics, and theology were but different aspects of one unified body of knowledge. She concludes with an analysis of the presupposition on which Boyle's views on the limits of reason rested: that when God created intelligent beings, he deliberately chose to limit their understanding, reserving a complete understanding for the afterlife.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-238) and index.