Baroque Science

348 Pages·2014·3.052 MB·English

by  Ofer Gal, Raz Chen-Morris

Baroque Science

Baroque Science
O F E R G A L
R A Z C H E N - M O R R I S
The University of Chicago Press
CHICAGO AND LONDON
ofer gal is associate professor of the history and philosophy of science at the
University of Sydney. raz chen- morris is a lecturer in the Science, Technol-
ogy, and Society Program at Bar-Ilan University.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2013 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2013.
Printed in the United States of America
22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 1 2 3 4 5
isbn- 13: 978-0-226-92398-7 (cloth)
isbn- 13: 978-0-226-92399-4 (e- book)
isbn- 10: 0-226-92398-3 (cloth)
isbn- 10: 0-226-92399-1 (e- book)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gal, Ofer.
Baroque science / Ofer Gal, Raz Chen-Morris.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-226-92398-7 (cloth : alk. paper) — isbn 978-0-226-92399-4
(e-book) 1. Science—History—17th century. 2. Mathematics—History—
17th century. 3. Optics—History—17th century. 4. Discoveries in science—
History—17th century. 5. Science—Philosophy—History—17th century.
I. Chen-Morris, Raz. II. Title.
Q127.e85g35 2013
509.4′09033—dc23
2012043141
o This paper meets the requirements of ansi/ niso z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper).
ונירוהל

Contents
List of Figures xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
In the Eye of the Painter 1
The Price of New Knowledge 2
The Opposition 6
The Power of Paradox 7
Baroque 9
The Argument 11
i observation 13
1 Science’s Disappearing Observer: Baroque Optics
and the Enlightenment of Vision 15
Introduction 15
Kepler 16
Anxieties, Solutions, and Compromises 26
Descartes 34
Conclusion 51
2 Per aenigmate: Mirrors and Lenses as Cognitive Tools
in Medieval and Renaissance Europe 53
Introduction 53
Spectacles 53
Through a Glass, Darkly 58
Signs and Symbols 60
The Aristotelian Order 61
Scholastic Light Metaphysics 66
Mediation 69
Transcending the Power of Reason 72
Conclusion 76
3 The Specter of the Telescope: Radical Instrumentalism
from Galileo to Hooke 79
Introduction: Instruments and Cosmology 79
The Controversy over the Comets 81
The Supremacy of the Instrument 91
The Controversy Continues 97
Conclusion: What Is There to See? 109
ii mathematization 115
4 Nature’s Drawing: Problems and Resolutions
in the Mathematization of Motion 117
Introduction 117
Traces 118
Kepler 119
Galileo 124
Before Kepler 134
After Galileo 144
5 From Divine Order to Human Approximation:
Mathematics in Baroque Science 161
Kepler and Newton 161
Kepler and Perfection 164
Newton and Disorder 168
Conclusion 182
6 The Emergence of Baroque Mathematical Natural
Philosophy: An Archeology of the Inverse Square Law 185
Hooke and Newton 185
Hooke 192
Kepler 206
Before Kepler 215
Conclusion 228
iii passions 231
7 Passions, Imagination, and the Persona of the New Savant 233
Introduction: The Princess and the Sage 233
Imagination 238
Rule of Reason 252
Passions 270
Abbreviations 283
Notes 285
Bibliography 313
Index 331