Boyle on fire : the mechanical revolution in scientific explanation
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Boyle on fire : the mechanical revolution in scientific explanation
（Continuum studies in British philosophy）
Continuum, c2005
Available at / 5 libraries
-
No Libraries matched.
- Remove all filters.
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The philosophy of Robert Boyle (1627-1691) is of great importance in the early modern period. 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 on Fire examines Boyle's work concerning a method of experiment common in the seventeenth century called Fire Analysis. In the Sceptical Chymist (1661), Boyle attacked elemental theories of chemical explanation primarily by raising objections against Aristotellan 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 superior to elemental theories of chemical explanation, characteristics that have become an enduring feature of the scientific enterprise.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Ch. 1: Boyle and the philosophy of science
Ch. 2: On the intelligibility of mechanical explanations
Ch. 3: Boyle's attack on elemental interpretations of Fire Analysis
Ch. 4: Boyle's mechanical theory of heat and fire
Ch. 5: Boyle's mechanical epistemology
Ch. 6: The 'contrivance of parts'
Ch. 7: Mechanical explanation in contemporary science
Conclusion
Glossary of terms
Chronology of Boyle's life
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"