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Most comprehensive, up-to-date, and in-depth account of knowledge of nature in early modern Europe available in English.
A comprehensive account of knowledge of the natural world in Europe, ca. 1500-1700. Often referred to as the Scientific Revolution, this period saw major transformations in fields as diverse as anatomy and astronomy, natural history and mathematics. Articles by leading specialists describe in clear, accessible prose supplemented by extensive bibliographies, how new ideas, discoveries, and institutions shaped the ways in which nature came to be studied, understood, and used. Part I frames the study of `The New Nature' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Part II surveys the `Personae and Sites of Natural Knowledge'. Part III treats the study of nature by discipline, following the classification of the sciences current in early modern Europe. Part IV takes up the implications of the new natural knowledge for religion, literature, art, gender, and European identity.
List of illustrations
Notes on contributors
General editors' preface
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: the age of the new / Katharine Park and Lorraine Daston
Part I. The New Nature:
2. Physics and foundations / Daniel Garber
3. Scientific explanation / Lynn S. Joy
4. The meanings of experience / Peter Dear
5. Proof and persuasion / Richard W. Serjeantson
Part II. Personae and Sites of Natural Knowledge:
6. The man of science / Steven Shapin
7. Women of natural knowledge / Londa Schiebinger
8. Markets, piazzas, and villages / William Eamon
9. Homes and households / Alix Cooper
10. Libraries and lecture halls / Anthony Grafton
11. Courts and academies / Bruce T. Moran
12. Anatomy theaters, botanical gardens, and natural history collections / Paula Findlen
13. Laboratories / Pamela H. Smith
14. Sites of military science and technology / Kelly DeVries
15. Coffeehouses and print shops / Adrian Johns
16. Networks of travel, correspondence, and exchange / Steven J. Harris
Part III. Dividing the Study of Nature:
17. Natural philosophy / Ann Blair
18. Medicine / Harold J. Cook
19. Natural history / Paula Findlen
20. Cosmography / Klaus A. Vogel (translated by Alisha Rankin)
21. From alchemy to 'chymistry' / William R. Newman
22. Magic / Brian P. Copenhaver
23. Astrology / H. Darrel Rutkin
24. Astronomy / William Donahue
25. Acoustics and optics / Paolo Mancosu
26. Mechanics / Domenico Beroloni Meli
27. The mechanical arts / Jim Bennett
28. Pure mathematics / Kirsti Andersen and Henk J. M. Bos
Part IV. Cultural Meanings of Natural Knowledge:
29. Religion / Rivka Feldhay
30. Literature / Mary Baine Campbell
31. Art / Carmen Niekrasz and Claudia Swan
32. Gender / Dorinda Outram
33. European expansion and self-definition / Klaus A. Vogel (translated by Alisha Rankin)
Index
Katharine Park is Zemurray Stone Radcliffe Professor of the History of Science and of the Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality at Harvard University. She is the author of Doctors and Medicine in Early Renaissance Florence (1985), and The Secrets of Women: Gender, Generation and the Origins of Human Dissection (2006). Her work has appeared in Isis, The Renaissance Quarterly, and Renaissance Studies, and many periodicals.
Lorraine Daston is Director at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and Honorary Professor at the Humboldt-Universitat, Berlin. She is the author of Wonders and the Order of Nature, 1150-1750 (1998), with Katharine Park; and Wunder, Beweise und Tatsachen: Zur Geschichte der Rationalitat (2001).
This book is an excellent source for current thinking on Early Modern Science. The chapters are writtten by the leading shcolars n their respective fields. This book, along with the rest of the Cambridge History of Science series, belongs in all academic and large public libraries. -- American Reference Books Annual "The real value of the volume, in my eyes at least, is its contribution to _early modern_ history...The breadth and range of the volume is breathtaking and, hard as I tried, I could think of little that was lacking... virtually the entire social and cultural panorama of early modern society receives intelligent and sophisticated coverage...it should be mandatory reading for every early modernist, no matter his or her particular scholarly orientation." -H-German, Mary Lindemann, Department of History, University of Miami "Individually the contributions to this volume are thoughtful, well-researched summations of the state of the art in their specific topical areas. As such they constitute a useful disciplinary resource for teachers but also mark the way for the next generation of extensions, revisioins and syntheses." - Jole Schakelford, University of Minnesota
