Fact, Faith and Fiction in the Development of Science

The Gifford Lectures Given in the University of St Andrews 1976
1. Auflage. Softcover version of original hardcover Auflage 1999
ISBN: 978-90-481-5248-3
Verlag: Springer Netherlands

Buch, Englisch, Band 205, 462 Seiten, Previously published in hardcover, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 727 g

Reihe: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science

In this posthumous book, the late Professor R. Hooykaas (1906-1994) conveys a lifetime of historical thought about modes of scientific advance over the centuries. In what variety of ways has the human mind, with all its subjectivity and its capacity for self-deception, but also its piercing gifts of discovery, managed to come to terms with `the whimsical tricks of nature'? Central to this erudite, penetrating, and widely ranging study is Hooykaas's distinction between facts (given by nature yet entirely subject to our mode of interpreting them), faith (broad conceptions like the idea of order, of simplicity, or of harmony), and fictions in the sense of those daring intellectual tools, such as theories and hypotheses and models, which reflect the scientist's creative imagination. Case studies drawn from the history of all branches of science (including chemistry and the earth sciences) and from Antiquity to the present day, serve to widen and to deepen the understanding of every reader (whether a historian of science or not) with a desire to learn more about the realities of the scientific pursuit.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hooykaas, R.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Wissenschaftstheorie, Wissenschaftsphilosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Wissenschaften: Theorie, Epistemologie, Methodik
• Naturwissenschaften Chemie Chemie Allgemein Geschichte der Chemie
• Geowissenschaften Geologie Historische Geologie, Geochronologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

I. On Natural Theology.- II. Harmony in Nature.- III. The Philosopher’s Stone.- IV. The Undying Fire.- V. A Tunnel Through the Earth.- VI. ‘And the Sun Stood Still’.- VII. Thinking with the Hands.- VIII. Physical and Mathematical Theories.- IX. Works of Nature, Works of Art.- X. Cleopatra’s Nose.- XI. The ‘Thinking Reed’.- Notes.- List of Illustrations.- The Text and Editorial Actions with Regard to It.- Acknowledgements.