Experimental Philosophy and the Origins of Empiricism

This integrated history of early modern experimental philosophy explains one of the most significant developments in the early modern period.

Peter R. Anstey (Author), Alberto Vanzo (Author)

9781316516461, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 February 2023

380 pages
23.5 x 15.4 x 2.4 cm, 0.73 kg

'The book is a must-read for both supporters and critics of ESD [experimental and speculative philosophy]. It is also essential reading for students of early modernity researching the intricate relationship between philosophy and the sciences.' Laura Georgescu, Metascience

The emergence of experimental philosophy was one of the most significant developments in the early modern period. However, it is often overlooked in modern scholarship, despite being associated with leading figures such as Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton, Jean Le Rond d'Alembert, David Hume and Christian Wolff. Ranging from the early Royal Society of London in the seventeenth century to the uptake of experimental philosophy in Paris and Berlin in the eighteenth, this book provides new terms of reference for understanding early modern philosophy and science, and its eventual eclipse in the shadow of post-Kantian notions of empiricism and rationalism. Experimental Philosophy and the Origins of Empiricism is an integrated history of early modern experimental philosophy which challenges the rationalism and empiricism historiography that has dominated Anglophone history of philosophy for more than a century.

Acknowledgements
Tables and Figures
Abbreviations
Note on Citations
Introduction
1. The Rise of Experimental Philosophy
2. The Heyday of Experimental Philosophy
3. From Experimental Philosophy to Empiricism
Conclusion
List of Manuscripts
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], Philosophy of science [PDA], Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900 [HPCD], Philosophy [HP]