Emergence and Expansion of Preclassical Mechanics

Description

This book is divided into two sections. The first section is concerned with the emergence and expansion of a form of mechanical knowledge defined by us as pre-classical mechanics. The definition purports to the period roughly between the 15th and the 17th century, before classical mechanics was formulated as a coherent and comprehensive mechanical theory in the sequel of Newton's work. The investigation of problems that were isolated from each other at the time but cohered into some kind of stable broad intellectual framework characterizes pre-classical mechanics. The second section is dedicated to specific case studies that present the application of a pre-classical framework to determined problems and to the investigation of specific natural phenomena. It consists of five case studies that illustrate in detail a reconstruction of pre-classical mechanics in particular constellations. Early modern theoretical, technical and social contexts transformed ancient and medieval mechanical knowledge in the course of its transmission. Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Mental Models as Cognitive Instruments in the Transformation of Knowledge (Jürgen Renn, Peter Damerow, Matthias Schemmel, Christoph Lehner, Matteo Valleriani)....Pages 3-28 Preclassical Mechanics in Context: Practical and Theoretical Knowledge Between Sovereignty, Religion, and Science (Rivka Feldhay)....Pages 29-53 Socio-Political Coordinates of Early-Modern Mechanics: A Preliminary Discussion (Pietro D. Omodeo)....Pages 55-78 Front Matter ....Pages 79-79 The Early History of Weighing Technology from the Perspective of a Theory of Innovation (Jochen Büttner, Jürgen Renn, Matthias Schemmel)....Pages 81-109 The Balance, the Lever and the Aristotelian Origins of Mechanics (Jürgen Renn, Peter McLaughlin)....Pages 111-137 A Journey to the Center of the Earth: Cosmology and the Centrobaric Theory from Antiquity to the Renaissance (Elio Nenci)....Pages 139-178 Front Matter ....Pages 179-179 The Social Position and Intellectual Identity of the Renaissance Mathematician-Physicist Giovanni Battista Benedetti: A Case Study in the Socio-Political History of Mechanics (Pietro D. Omodeo)....Pages 181-213 A Treatise on Galileian Mechanics: Exercitationes in Mechanicis Aristotelis by the Jesuit Giovan Battista Zupi (Romano Gatto)....Pages 215-254 Heaviness, Lightness and Impetus in the Seventeenth Century: A Jesuit Perspective (Rivka Feldhay, Ayelet Even-Ezra)....Pages 255-284 Jesuit Conceptions of Impetus After Galileo: Honoré Fabri, Paolo Casati, and Francesco Eschinardi (Michael Elazar, Rivka Feldhay)....Pages 285-323 Correction to: Emergence and Expansion of Preclassical Mechanics (Rivka Feldhay, Jürgen Renn, Matthias Schemmel, Matteo Valleriani)....Pages E1-E1 Back Matter ....Pages 325-327