Epistemology and Natural Philosophy in the 18th Century
The Roots of Modern Physics
Authors: Capecchi, Danilo
Free Preview- Will appeal to philosophers, historians of science, and scientists
- Proposes a new interpretation of the transformation in the study and philosophy of nature during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
- Underscores the role of mathematicians in transforming natural philosophy into modern science
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- About this book
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This book documents the process of transformation from natural philosophy, which was considered the most important of the sciences until the early modern era, into modern disciplines such as mathematics, physics, natural history, chemistry, medicine and engineering. It focuses on the 18th century, which has often been considered uninteresting for the history of science, representing the transition from the age of genius and the birth of modern science (the 17th century) to the age of prodigious development in the 19th century. Yet the 18th century, the century of Enlightenment, as will be demonstrated here, was in fact characterized by substantial ferment and novelty.
To make the text more accessible, little emphasis has been placed on the precise genesis of the various concepts and methods developed in scientific enterprises, except when doing so was necessary to make them clear. For the sake of simplicity, in several situations reference is made to the authors who are famous today, such as Newton, the Bernoullis, Euler, d’Alembert, Lagrange, Lambert, Volta et al. – not necessarily because they were the most creative and original minds, but mainly because their writings represent a synthesis of contemporary and past studies. The above names should, therefore, be considered more labels of a period than references to real historical characters.
- About the authors
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Danilo Capecchi was professor of Structural Mechanics at University of Rome La Sapienza. His research into the history of science focuses mainly on classical mechanics.
- Table of contents (5 chapters)
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Epistemology and Science at the Turn of the 18th Century
Pages 1-88
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The Birth of Physics as an Academic Discipline
Pages 89-159
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Classical Mechanics
Pages 161-298
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Physics in General
Pages 299-472
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The Emergence of the Science of Engineering
Pages 473-544
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Table of contents (5 chapters)
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Bibliographic Information
- Bibliographic Information
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- Book Title
- Epistemology and Natural Philosophy in the 18th Century
- Book Subtitle
- The Roots of Modern Physics
- Authors
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- Danilo Capecchi
- Series Title
- History of Mechanism and Machine Science
- Series Volume
- 39
- Copyright
- 2021
- Publisher
- Springer International Publishing
- Copyright Holder
- Springer Nature Switzerland AG
- eBook ISBN
- 978-3-030-52852-2
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-030-52852-2
- Hardcover ISBN
- 978-3-030-52851-5
- Series ISSN
- 1875-3442
- Edition Number
- 1
- Number of Pages
- XIX, 550
- Number of Illustrations
- 99 b/w illustrations, 2 illustrations in colour
- Topics