Robert Boyle: A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature

An important treatise by one of the leading mechanical philosophers of the seventeenth century.

Robert Boyle (Author), Edward B. Davis (Edited by), Michael Hunter (Edited by)

9780521567961, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 7 November 1996

212 pages
22.9 x 15.3 x 1.3 cm, 0.309 kg

"This work, which admirably testifies to Boyle's equal concern for 'truth and philosophical freedom' and 'religion', deserves this new edition. And, as Davis and Hunter suggest at the end of their introduction, today an essay on the idea of nature can have more than a simple historical significance." Guido Giglioni, Isis

In this book, published in 1686, the scientist Robert Boyle (1627–91) attacked prevailing notions of the natural world which depicted 'Nature' as a wise, benevolent and purposeful being. Boyle, one of the leading mechanical philosophers of his day, believed that the world was best understood as a vast, impersonal machine, fashioned by an infinite, personal God. In this cogent treatise, he drew on his scientific findings, his knowledge of contemporary medicine and his deep reflection on theological and philosophical issues, arguing that it was inappropriate both theologically and scientifically to speak of Nature as if it had a mind of its own: instead, the only true efficient causes of things were the properties and powers given to matter by God. As such, A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature represents one of the subtlest statements concerning the philosophical issues raised by the mechanical philosophy to emerge from the period of the scientific revolution.

Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Introduction
Chronology
A note on the text
A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature
The Preface
Section I
Section II
Section III
Section IV
Section V
Section VI
Section VII
Section VIII
Glossary
Index.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900 [HPCD]