A free enquiry into the vulgarly received notion of nature
- Responsibility
- edited by Edward B. Davis, Michael Hunter.
- Imprint
- Cambridge [England] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1996.
- Physical description
- xxxvi, 171 p. ; 24 cm.
- Series
- Cambridge texts in the history of philosophy
Description
Creators/Contributors
- Author/Creator
- Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691.
- Contributor
- Davis, Edward Bradford, 1953-
- Hunter, Michael, 1949-
Contents/Summary
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (p. xxx-xxxiii) and index.
- Contents
-
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chronology
- A note on the text
- A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature
- The Preface
- Section I
- Section II
- Section III
- Section IV
- Section V
- Section VI
- Section VII
- Section VIII
- Glossary
- Index.
- (source: Nielsen Book Data)
- Publisher's summary
-
In this book, published in 1686, the scientist Robert Boyle (1627-91) attacked prevailing notions of the natural world which depicted 'Nature' as a wise, benevolent and purposeful being. Boyle, one of the leading mechanical philosophers of his day, believed that the world was best understood as a vast, impersonal machine, fashioned by an infinite, personal God. In this cogent treatise, he drew on his scientific findings, his knowledge of contemporary medicine and his deep reflection on theological and philosophical issues, arguing that it was inappropriate both theologically and scientifically to speak of Nature as if it had a mind of its own: instead, the only true efficient causes of things were the properties and powers given to matter by God. As such, A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature represents one of the subtlest statements concerning the philosophical issues raised by the mechanical philosophy to emerge from the period of the scientific revolution.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
Subjects
Bibliographic information
- Publication date
- 1996
- ISBN
- 0521561000
- 0521567963 (pbk.)
- 9780521561006 (hardback)
- 9780521567961 (pbk.)
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