Edgar Allan Poe, Eureka, and Scientific Imagination

David N. Stamos teaches philosophy at York University in Toronto. He is the author of several books, including Darwin and the Nature of Species, also published by SUNY Press.

"A truly delightful read, Stamos's volume illustrates how Poe weaved literary and scientific theories together and incorporated his notions of cosmology and cosmogony into his poems and fiction. This book deserves a place on the bookshelves of students and scholars." — American Literary Scholarship"This book will become an indispensable resource for anyone with an academic interest in Eureka, but contains many unexpected pleasures for any reader of Poe." — Modern Language Review"It is rich, entertaining, informative, comprehensive, intelligent, and provocative. Poe fans, literary critics, and even scientists will enjoy this immersion in the unplumbed imaginative depths of Poe's Eureka … Highly recommended." — CHOICE"…revelatory … Stamos uses Poe's Eureka as a springboard to explore a subject with a far wider relevance, making it much more than a niche work for Poe aficionados … Stamos displays an enormous erudition and mastery of a range of academic and scientific disciplines, and writes with eloquence … an exhilarating read." — Magonia Review of Books"Edgar Allan Poe, Eureka, and Scientific Imagination is the most comprehensive treatment of Eureka that has yet been published. It is staggeringly thorough in its analysis of Poe's book, but it also shows how Poe's theories of cosmogony and cosmology ramify into his fiction and poetry, especially the tales of ratiocination. Stamos takes Eureka seriously, and he does so with the empirical undergirding of vast amounts of scientific scholarship and literary criticism." — James M. Hutchisson, author of Poe

• AcknowledgmentsSources1. PrologueEntréeSummariesDiscovering PoePoe’s House of UsherPoe’s Poiesis2. Poe’s Literary TheoryEntréeThe ProblemPleasure, Plot, and Unity of EffectEureka as a "Prose Poem"3. Poe’s TheologyEntréePoe’s Theology and the Problem of EvilArtistic Sensitivity and Poe’s View of the WorldThe Argument from BeautyThe Problem of PainThe Problem of DeathBeauty and Hope4. Poe’s Intellectual BackgroundEntréePoe’s Formal Education"Pinakidia"The Conchologist’s First Book"A on Science and Art"The Bridgewater TreatisesVestiges of the Natural History of CreationPoe’s Scientific Sources for EurekaPoe’s Criteria of TruthWas Eureka a Hoax?5. The Scientific Anticipations of EurekaEntréeRejection of Axioms as Intuitively TrueBig Bang CosmogonyFine-Tuning of the Laws of NatureNon-Existence of Laws of Nature Before the Big BangOlbers’ ParadoxMultiverse TheorySpace–Time InterdependenceMatter–Energy EquivalenceNo Material Ether6. Imagination in Philosophy and History of ScienceEntréePhilosophy of Science in Poe’s TimeLogical PositivismLogical EmpiricismKarl PopperThomas KuhnThe New ExperimentalismThe Disunity of Science MovementInference to the Best ExplanationEpistemic Virtues and ValuesEvolutionary EpistemologyContextualist History of ScienceCharles DarwinAlbert EinsteinMutation and Imagination, an Analogy7. Poe’s Theory of Scientific ImaginationEntréeDouble ConsciousnessMesmeric ConsciousnessLunatics, Lovers, and PoetsKepler, Champollion, and HumboldtLeibniz, Newton, and LaplacePoe’s "Double Dupin"Against Deduction and InductionThe Poetic Intellect8. EpilogueEntréeUnconscious Scientific CreativityComparative Biography and PsychologyCognitive ScienceNeuroscienceEvolutionAdieuIndex