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Handling "Occult Qualities" in the Scientific Revolution
Disciplines and New Approaches to Natural Philosophy, from John Dee to Isaac Newton
Series: - Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy and Science, Volume: 37
Author:
The Scientific Revolution saw the redefinition of many scholastic notions about the nature of the world and its constituent parts, from planets to particles. Wangâs book introduces a convincing and wide-ranging narrative of the changing place of âoccult qualitiesâ in the context of emergent new scientific methods and early modern disciplinary realignments. Through in-depth analysis of the diverse treatments of this notion, whereby it becomes now a hollow phrase, now a touchstone for the superiority of new physics, Wang shows how the transformation of this notion is key to understanding almost every facet of the new physics of the age.
Xiaona Wang, Ph. D. (2019, University of Edinburgh), is now a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow at the University of Warwick, Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, working on a three-year project on early modern gravitational theories.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Re-disciplining âOccult Qualitiesâ: Mechanics and the Mixed Mathematical Sciences
â1.1âBeing âSkilled in âCatoptricsâââ
â1.2âTesting a Body of âAstronomical Hypothesesâ
â1.3âDismissing âIdle Imaginingsâ
â1.4âCreating the âUnheard-of Paradoxâ
2 Manifesting âOccult Causesâ: Empirical Investigations and Experimental Philosophy
â2.1âThe Physicianâs Pathway
â2.2âThe Baconian Method
â2.3âOccult Causes; Manifest Effects
â2.4âThe âPhysico-Mathematicall-Experimentallâ Programme
3 Employing the Occult Powers of the Lodestone and Orbital Motions
â3.1âGilbertâs Magnetism
â3.2âMagnetism and Gravity
â3.3âApproaches to Orbital Motions
4 Exploring Hidden Qualities of Matter: âvis activaâ
â4.1âMatter Emits (Magnetical) Effluvia
â4.2âMatter Vibrates and So Does Aether
â4.3âMatter Attracts and Repels
5 Reintroducing âOccult Qualitiesâ into Natural Philosophy? Newtonâs Approaches to Physics
â5.1âEarly Immersion in the Mixed Mathematical Programme
â5.2âThe Inimitable Newtonian Methodology: Dynamics
â5.3âApproaches to Physics and Active Principles
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Re-disciplining âOccult Qualitiesâ: Mechanics and the Mixed Mathematical Sciences
â1.1âBeing âSkilled in âCatoptricsâââ
â1.2âTesting a Body of âAstronomical Hypothesesâ
â1.3âDismissing âIdle Imaginingsâ
â1.4âCreating the âUnheard-of Paradoxâ
2 Manifesting âOccult Causesâ: Empirical Investigations and Experimental Philosophy
â2.1âThe Physicianâs Pathway
â2.2âThe Baconian Method
â2.3âOccult Causes; Manifest Effects
â2.4âThe âPhysico-Mathematicall-Experimentallâ Programme
3 Employing the Occult Powers of the Lodestone and Orbital Motions
â3.1âGilbertâs Magnetism
â3.2âMagnetism and Gravity
â3.3âApproaches to Orbital Motions
4 Exploring Hidden Qualities of Matter: âvis activaâ
â4.1âMatter Emits (Magnetical) Effluvia
â4.2âMatter Vibrates and So Does Aether
â4.3âMatter Attracts and Repels
5 Reintroducing âOccult Qualitiesâ into Natural Philosophy? Newtonâs Approaches to Physics
â5.1âEarly Immersion in the Mixed Mathematical Programme
â5.2âThe Inimitable Newtonian Methodology: Dynamics
â5.3âApproaches to Physics and Active Principles
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
The book will appeal to a broad range of readers interested in intellectual history, the history of early modern science and philosophy, the Scientific Revolution, and Newton in particular.