Scottish Philosophy and British Physics, 1740-1870 : : A Study in the Foundations of the Victorian Scientific Style / / Richard S. Olson.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton Legacy Lib. eBook Package 1931-1979
• VerfasserIn: Olson, Richard S.,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2015]; ©1975
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Language: English
• Series: Princeton Legacy Library ; 1283
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (360 p.)

Historians of science have long been intrigued by the impact of disparate cultural styles on the science of a given country and time period. Richard Olson's book is a case study in the interaction between philosophy and science as well as an examination of a particular scientific movement.The author investigates the methodological arguments of the Common Sense philosophers Thomas Reid, Dugald Stewart, Thomas Brown, and William Hamilton and the possible transmission of their ideas to scientists from John Playfair to James Clerk Maxwell.His findings point out the need for modifications to the Duhem-Poincaré interpretation of British scientific style and the reassessment of the extent of Kantian influence on British physics.Originally published in 1975.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Prologue -- PART I. The Growth of a Common Sense Philosophy of Science -- Chapter 1: The Integration of Moral Philosophy and Natural Philosophy in Scottish Academia -- Chapter 2: The Origins of Common Sense Philosophical Concern with the Nature of Science: Bacon and Newton Revisited in the Light of Hume -- Chapter 3: Common Sense Concerns with the Nature of Mathematics -- Chapter 4: A Change in Mood: Dugald Stewart, Thomas Brown, and the Acceptance of Hypothetical and Analogical Methods in Science -- Chapter 5: Thomas Brown and William Hamilton: The Relativity of Scientific Knowledge and the Triumph of Simplicity and Analogy -- PART II. The Influence of Common Sense Ideas on the Exact Sciences in Britain -- Chapter 6: Common Sense Reflections in the Natural Philosophy of John Robison and John Playfair -- Chapter 7: Common Sense Elements in Scientific Reviews: 1790-1840 -- Chapter 8: John Leslie and Henry Brougham: Model Common Sense Scientists of the First Generation -- Chapter 9: Common Sense Concerns Once Removed: James D. Forbes and John James Waterston -- Chapter 10: Sir John Herschel's Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy and the Common Sense Tradition -- Chapter 11: The Methodological Writings of William John Macquorn Rankine -- Chapter 12: Culmination of the Tradition: Metaphysics and Method in the Works of James Clerk Maxwell -- Epilogue -- Index