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E.A. Burtt, Historian and Philosopher

A Study of the author of The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science

  • Book
  • © 2002

Overview

Authors:
  1. Diane Davis Villemaire

    1. McGill University, Montreal, Canada

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Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science (BSPS, volume 226)

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Diane Davis Villemaire
    Pages 1-6

  3. Columbia University in the 1920s: The Young Radical Philosophers

    • Diane Davis Villemaire
    Pages 7-14

  4. The Idealists: James Harvey Robinson and the Genetic Method of History, John Dewey and Reflective Thinking

    • Diane Davis Villemaire
    Pages 15-29

  5. The Realists Who Sharpened the Edges of Burtt’s Ideas

    • F. J. E. Woodbridge
    Pages 31-45

  6. The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science

    • Diane Davis Villemaire
    Pages 47-65

  7. The Chicago School of Pragmatism

    • Diane Davis Villemaire
    Pages 67-81

  8. Religious Humanism

    • Diane Davis Villemaire
    Pages 83-93

  9. Burtt’s New Philosophy of Mind

    • Diane Davis Villemaire
    Pages 95-129

  10. FROM The Genesis of Hypothesis (1935) TO The Metaphysics of Empirical Theology (1987?)

    • Diane Davis Villemaire
    Pages 131-153

  11. Burtt’s Newton and the Debate over the Rationality of Early Modern Science

    • Diane Davis Villemaire
    Pages 155-186

  12. What Happened to the Metaphysical Foundations and Burtt’s Interest in the History of Science?

    • Diane Davis Villemaire
    Pages 187-196

  13. Burtt’s Philosophy after 1935

    • Diane Davis Villemaire
    Pages 197-213

  14. A Return to the Ideas in the Metaphysical Foundations

    • Burtt, R. G. Collingwood
    Pages 215-232

  15. Conclusion

    • Diane Davis Villemaire
    Pages 233-245

  16. Back Matter

    Pages 247-299
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Keywords

About this book

Burtt's book, The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science, is something of a puzzle within the context of twentieth-century intellectual history, especially American intellectual history. Burtt's pioneering study of the scientific revolution has proved to prophetic in its rejection of both scientism and positivism. Published in 1924, Burtt's book continues to be read in educated circles and remains both the rose and the thorn on university reading lists, raising skeptical questions about science methods and science knowledge just as it did seventy-five years ago.
This book examines Burtt's public, academic and personal life. From his politics of conscience after World War I on through the Cold War Burtt is shown to be a man of unparalleled integrity, whose relentless search for philosophic understanding drove his more quixotic philosophical quests and steered his personal life, including its tragic dimension, toward simple virtue.
The many who have been affected by The Metaphysical Foundations will be especially interested in this new perspective on the life and thought of its author. Those who have not read Burtt's books might be inspired to study this unusual American thinker.

Authors and Affiliations

  • McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Diane Davis Villemaire

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: E.A. Burtt, Historian and Philosopher

  • Book Subtitle: A Study of the author of The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science

  • Authors: Diane Davis Villemaire

  • Series Title: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1331-3

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2002

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-0428-5Published: 28 February 2002

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-90-481-5937-6Published: 16 November 2010

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-017-1331-3Published: 17 April 2013

  • Series ISSN: 0068-0346

  • Series E-ISSN: 2214-7942

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: X, 300

  • Topics: Philosophy of Science, History, general, Metaphysics

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