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The Social and Economic Roots of the Scientific Revolution

Texts by Boris Hessen and Henryk Grossmann

  • Book
  • © 2009

Overview

Editors:
  1. Gideon Freudenthal

    1. The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel

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  2. Peter McLaughlin

    1. Philosophy Department, University of Heidelberg, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany

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  • Assembles the classics of Marxist historiography of Science
  • First publication of a book by Grossman; New and reliable translation of Hessen
  • Provides an introduction in depth to their theories
  • Outlines the historical context of these theories and their biased anti-Marxist reception

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science (BSPS, volume 278)

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-XI
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  2. Classical Marxist Historiography of Science: The Hessen-Grossmann-Thesis

    • Gideon Freudenthal, Peter McLaughlin
    Pages 1-40

  3. The Social and Economic Roots of Newton’s Principia

    • Boris Hessen
    Pages 41-101

  4. The Social Foundations of the Mechanistic Philosophy and Manufacture

    • Henryk Grossmann
    Pages 103-156

  5. Descartes and the Social Origins of the Mechanistic Concept of the World

    • Henryk Grossmann
    Pages 157-229

  6. Additional Texts on Mechanism

    • Henryk Grossmann
    Pages 231-237

  7. Henryk Grossman: A Biographical Sketch

    • Rick Kuhn
    Pages 239-252

  8. Boris Hessen: In Lieu of a Biography

    • Gideon Freudenthal, Peter McLaughlin
    Pages 253-256

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 257-273
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Keywords

About this book

The texts of Boris Hessen and Henryk Grossmann assembled in this volume are important contributions to the historiography of the Scienti?c Revolution and to the methodology of the historiography of science. They are of course also historical documents, not only testifying to Marxist discourse of the time but also illustrating typical European fates in the ?rst half of the twentieth century. Hessen was born a Jewish subject of the Russian Czar in the Ukraine, participated in the October Revolution and was executed in the Soviet Union at the beginning of the purges. Grossmann was born a Jewish subject of the Austro-Hungarian Kaiser in Poland and served as an Austrian of?cer in the First World War; afterwards he was forced to return to Poland and then because of his revolutionary political activities to emigrate to Germany; with the rise to power of the Nazis he had to ?ee to France and then Americawhilehisfamily,whichremainedinEurope,perishedinNaziconcentration camps. Our own acquaintance with the work of these two authors is also indebted to historical context (under incomparably more fortunate circumstances): the revival of Marxist scholarship in Europe in the wake of the student movement and the p- fessionalization of history of science on the Continent. We hope that under the again very different conditions of the early twenty-?rst century these texts will contribute to the further development of a philosophically informed socio-historical approach to the study of science.

Reviews

From the reviews:

“This book is an important gateway to study how Marxist ideas have shaped the development of science studies. … This volume … provides an enlightening introduction to the first stage in the shaping of modern science studies by Marxist theory. It also effectively opens a historical window to questions about later interactions of Marxism and science studies. … a book that is very helpful in understanding of how ideas about the social nature and role of science have developed since the 1930s … .” (Nils Roll-Hansen, Metascience, Vol. 21, 2012)

Editors and Affiliations

  • The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel

    Gideon Freudenthal

  • Philosophy Department, University of Heidelberg, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany

    Peter McLaughlin

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