Science and the Enlightenment

Description

Science and the Enlightenment is a general history of eighteenth-century science covering both the physical and life sciences. It places the scientific developments of the century in the cultural context of the Enlightenment and reveals the extent to which scientific ideas permeated the thought of the age. The book takes advantage of topical scholarship, which is rapidly changing our understanding of science during the eighteenth century. In particular it describes how science was organized into fields that were quite different from those we know today. Professor Hankins's work is a much needed addition to the literature on eighteenth-century science. His study is not technical; it will be of interest to all students of the Enlightenment and the history of science, as well as to the general reader with some background in science. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Contents Preface I The Character of the Enlightenment Reason and Nature Science and Literature The Categories of Science The Mechanical Philosophy Science and Philosophy II Mathematics and the Exact Sciences The Meaning of Analysis Motion Along a Curve Mechanical Principles Mechanics and Enlightenment Philosophy Three Tests of Universal Gravitation Positional Astronomy Physical Astronomy III Experimental Physics The Subtle Fluids Electricity The Early History of Electricity Benjamin Franklin's One-Fluid Theory The Leyden Jar The Discovery of Current Electricity Heat and Temperature Latent Heat IV Chemistry The Vaporous State of Matter Gas Chemistry The Problem of Combustion The Phlogiston Theory Lavoisier's Experiments on Combustion Oxygen and the Vaporous State of Matter The Rationalization of Chemistry Chemical Atomism V Natural History and Physiology The Mechanical Philosophy and the Study of Life Experimental Physiology Generation The Revival of Preformation Natural History VI The Moral Sciences The Science of Man Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws The Encyclopédie Scientific Academies Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Critic of Society The Physiocrats Probability Theory and the Science of Man Legal Reform Social Mathematics The End of the Enlightenment Bibliographic Essay Sources ofQuotations Index