History and Philosophy of Science: A Reader

Daniel J. McKaughan is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Boston College, USA.Holly VandeWall is Assistant Professor of the Practice of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy at Boston College, USA.

This collection aptly unites, and thematically arranges, some of the most important sources in the history of the biological and physical sciences from antiquity through the end of the 19th century. The volume is designed for use in upper division or graduate history and philosophy of science courses and affords instructors ready access to key texts from a near-comprehensive range of time periods. The book stops before the 20th century, but this limitation ensures that the sources it includes are broadly accessible to students without advanced scientific training. The selection of sources is careful, and the translations (where applicable) are fluid ... Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduate and graduate students and their instructors.

• Timeline Introduction, Daniel J. McKaughan and Holly VandeWallPart I. ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND MATHEMATICS Introduction Plato, Philebus Plato, Republic Plato, Timaeus Lucretius, On The Nature of Things Aristotle, CategoriesAristotle, Posterior Analytics Aristotle, Physics Aristotle, On the Heavens Aristotle, Meteorology Aristotle, De Anima Aristotle, Parts of Animals Aristotle, Generation of Animals Euclid, Elements Apollonius, The Conics Ptolemy, Introduction to the Almagest Avicenna, De Mineralibus Al-Biruni, Letters to Avicenna on Aristotelian Astronomy and Physics Aquinas, On the Motion of the Heart Buridan, Questions on Aristotelian PhilosophyOresme, A Treatise on the Configuration of Qualities and Motions Suggested Readings Discussion Questions Part II. TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE: MECHANICS AND ASTRONOMY Introduction Copernicus, On the Revolutions of the Celestial SpheresOsiander, Preface to On the Revolutions Tycho Brahe, Preface to The Improved Mechanic Astronomy Kepler, Astronomia Nova Galileo, Message to Cosimo de’Medici Galileo, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems Galileo, Dialogue Concerning the Two New Sciences Descartes, Discourse on Method Descartes, Principles of Philosophy Descartes, Le MondeBacon, The New Organon Bacon, The New Atlantis Newton, Principia Huygens, Treatise on Light Newton, Opticks Newton, Letter to Oldenberg Buffon, On the Formation of the Planets Suggested Readings Discussion Questions Part III: TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE: CHEMISTRY, HEAT, AND THE UNIFICATION OF FORCES Introduction Hermes Trismegistus, The Emerald Tablet Paracelsus, Of the Nature of Things Newton, The Key and Commentary on the Emerald Tablet Boyle, On the Excellency and Grounds of the Corpuscular or Mechanical Hypothesis Boyle, Experimental Researches on Combustion Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist Becher, Concerning the First Principle of Metals and Stones Stahl, Preliminaries Priestley, Of Dephlogisticated Air Lavoisier, Elements of Chemistry Young, On the Theory of Light and Colors Dalton, A New System of Chemical Philosophy Gay-Lussac, Memoir on the Combination of Gases Avagadro, Determining Relative Masses of Elementary Molecules Oersted, The Electromagnetic Effect (4 pages)Faraday, Lectures on Electricity and Magnetism Faraday, Experimental Researches in Electricity Carnot, Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire Clausius, On the Nature of the Motion We Call HeatMaxwell, A Dynamical Theory of the ElectroMagnetic Field Canizzaro, Sketch of a Course of Chemical Philosophy Mendeleev, Relation between Properties and Atomic Weights Kelvin, On the Dynamical Theory of Heat Suggested Readings Discussion Questions Part IV: THE SPECIALIZATION OF NATURAL HISTORY: THE HUMAN ANIMAL, ZOOLOGY, BOTANY, AND GEOLOGY Introduction William Harvey, Concerning the Movement of the Heart and Blood Descartes, Treatise on Man Hooke, MicrographiaSchwann, Microscopical Investigations Buffon, Natural History “Second Discourse” Buffon, On the Generation and Species of Animals Linnaeus, On the Increase of the Habitable Earth Linnaeus, Economy of Nature Cuvier, On the Revolutions of the Earthly Globe Lamarck, Zoological Philosophy Cuvier, Lectures on Comparative Anatomy and Natural History of Fishes Lyell, Principles of Geology Paley, Natural Theology Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population Mendel, Experiments in Plant HybridizationSuggested Readings Discussion Questions Part V. EVOLUTIONARY THEORY: DARWINISM AND ITS RECEPTION Introduction A. R. Wallace, On the Tendency of Varieties to DepartDarwin, The Origin of Species Darwin, Descent of Man Darwin, Variation of Plants and Animals “Pangenesis”Kelvin, On the Age of the Earth: Uniformity Briefly Refuted and Of Geological Dynamics Jenkin, Review of the Origin of the Species Sedgwick, Objections to Mr. Darwin’s Theory Owen, Darwin on the Origin of Species Gray, Darwin and His Reviewers Agassiz, Methods in the Study of Natural History Huxley, T. H., The Coming of Age of the Origin of Species Suggested Readings Discussion QuestionsGlossaryIndex