Overview
Part of the book series: The Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science (WONS, volume 50)
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Table of contents (6 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
In a detailed analysis of Galileo's mature works, Pitt reconstructs crucial features of Galileo's epistemology. He shows how Galileo's methodological insights grow out of an appreciation of the limits of human knowledge and he brings fresh insight to our concept of Galileo's methodology and its implications for contemporary debates. Working from Galileo's insistence on the contrast between the number of things that can be known and the limited abilities of human knowers, Pitt shows how Galileo's common sense approach to rationality permits the development of a robust scientific method. At the same time, Pitt argues that we should correct our picture of Galileo, the culture hero. Instead of seeing him as a martyr to the cause of truth, Galileo is best understood as a man of his times who was responding to a variety of social pressures during a period of intellectual and political turmoil.
This book will be of interest to philosophers and to historians and sociologists of science as well as to a general readership interested in the scientific revolution.
Authors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Galileo, Human Knowledge, and the Book of Nature
Book Subtitle: Method Replaces Metaphysics
Authors: Joseph C. Pitt
Series Title: The Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2620-5
Publisher: Springer Dordrecht
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eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive
Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1992
Softcover ISBN: 978-94-010-5158-3Published: 23 August 2014
eBook ISBN: 978-94-011-2620-5Published: 11 November 2013
Series ISSN: 1566-659X
Series E-ISSN: 2215-1974
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVI, 201
Topics: Philosophy of Science, History, general, Modern Philosophy