Boyle on Fire

Boyle on Fire PDF Author: William Eaton
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1847144373
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book

Book Description
The philosophy of Robert Boyle (1627-1691) is a hot topic in early modern philosophy. Boyle was at the centre of the scientific community of 17th-century England, and an accurate view of the Enlightenment scientific revolution is impossible without recognition of the contributions that he made. Work on Boyle's philosophy is also shedding light on contemporary issues in the philosophy of science - it can help us understand the nature of scientific explanation and the role that the mechanical model of explanation plays in present-day science. Boyle's mechanical philosophy ushered in a new explanatory model for science and even though his corpuscular hypothesis failed, its failure does not entail the failure of the explanatory model of which it was an instance. Boyle on Fire demonstrates these points by examining Boyle's work concerning a method of experiment common in the seventeenth century called Fire Analysis. In the Sceptical Chymist (1661), Boyle attacks elemental theories of chemical explanation primarily by raising objections against Aristotelian and Paracelsian interpretations of fire analysis. The book reconstructs Boyle's corpuscular account of fire analysis and then compares it to these objections. This process reveals those characteristics of mechanical explanations that make them epistemologically superior to elemental theories of chemical explanation, and it is these characteristics that survive the death of the corpuscular hypothesis and have become an enduring feature of the scientific enterprise.

Boyle on Fire

Boyle on Fire PDF Author: William Eaton
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1847144373
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book

Book Description
The philosophy of Robert Boyle (1627-1691) is a hot topic in early modern philosophy. Boyle was at the centre of the scientific community of 17th-century England, and an accurate view of the Enlightenment scientific revolution is impossible without recognition of the contributions that he made. Work on Boyle's philosophy is also shedding light on contemporary issues in the philosophy of science - it can help us understand the nature of scientific explanation and the role that the mechanical model of explanation plays in present-day science. Boyle's mechanical philosophy ushered in a new explanatory model for science and even though his corpuscular hypothesis failed, its failure does not entail the failure of the explanatory model of which it was an instance. Boyle on Fire demonstrates these points by examining Boyle's work concerning a method of experiment common in the seventeenth century called Fire Analysis. In the Sceptical Chymist (1661), Boyle attacks elemental theories of chemical explanation primarily by raising objections against Aristotelian and Paracelsian interpretations of fire analysis. The book reconstructs Boyle's corpuscular account of fire analysis and then compares it to these objections. This process reveals those characteristics of mechanical explanations that make them epistemologically superior to elemental theories of chemical explanation, and it is these characteristics that survive the death of the corpuscular hypothesis and have become an enduring feature of the scientific enterprise.

Alchemy Tried in the Fire

Alchemy Tried in the Fire PDF Author: William R. Newman
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226577058
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 359

Get Book

Book Description
Winner of the 2005 Pfizer Prize from the History of Science Society. What actually took place in the private laboratory of a mid-seventeenth century alchemist? How did he direct his quest after the secrets of Nature? What instruments and theoretical principles did he employ? Using, as their guide, the previously misunderstood interactions between Robert Boyle, widely known as "the father of chemistry," and George Starkey, an alchemist and the most prominent American scientific writer before Benjamin Franklin as their guide, Newman and Principe reveal the hitherto hidden laboratory operations of a famous alchemist and argue that many of the principles and practices characteristic of modern chemistry derive from alchemy. By analyzing Starkey's extraordinary laboratory notebooks, the authors show how this American "chymist" translated the wildly figurative writings of traditional alchemy into quantitative, carefully reasoned laboratory practice—and then encoded his own work in allegorical, secretive treatises under the name of Eirenaeus Philalethes. The intriguing "mystic" Joan Baptista Van Helmont—a favorite of Starkey, Boyle, and even of Lavoisier—emerges from this study as a surprisingly central figure in seventeenth-century "chymistry." A common emphasis on quantification, material production, and analysis/synthesis, the authors argue, illustrates a continuity of goals and practices from late medieval alchemy down to and beyond the Chemical Revolution. For anyone who wants to understand how alchemy was actually practiced during the Scientific Revolution and what it contributed to the development of modern chemistry, Alchemy Tried in the Fire will be a veritable philosopher's stone.

Boyle's court and country guide

Boyle's court and country guide PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 1118

Get Book

Book Description


George Boyle White surveyor, colonial citizen, diarist

George Boyle White surveyor, colonial citizen, diarist PDF Author: Les Dalton
Publisher: Les Dalton
ISBN: 0992533600
Category : Farmers
Languages : en
Pages : 169

Get Book

Book Description
In 1826, George Boyle White, then just twenty-four years old, arrived at Sydney Cove from Calcutta. He had served as navigator in the East India Company for seven years. While employed for a short time as a clerk in the Colonial Secretary’s office he learned the skills of a land surveyor. Appointed assistant surveyor in the Surveyor General’s Department he set out Maitland and other major towns in the Hunter Valley region. Surveyor General, Thomas Mitchell, appointed White second-in-charge of his first expedition into the interior. In his report on the expedition Mitchell judged White to be “an accurate and indefatigable surveyor”.

T.C. Boyle's "The Tortilla Curtain": Urban Conditions, Racism, and Ecological Disaster in Fortress Los Angeles

T.C. Boyle's Author: Laura Schomaker
Publisher: diplom.de
ISBN: 3956846087
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 58

Get Book

Book Description
Los Angeles is famous for its sunny weather, for the Hollywood film studios and for being the residence of the rich and beautiful. And although - or, precisely because - all this is more illusion than reality, the city frequently serves as setting for various pieces of fiction. However, Los Angeles does not only play a huge role in the media, but since lately also in the realm of urban studies. Having long been a kind of ‘outsider’ in the field, it is now regarded as a prototypical example for urban development by the L.A. School. In this context, its image is less sunny and positive, but reveals a deep-rooted racism against Latin-American immigrants in combination with a fortress mentality on the part of its white population as well as a unique urban ecology, in which natural catastrophes seem to be regular occurrences. This paper intends to outline the significance of Los Angeles in urban studies and trace the thereby acquired findings in a fictional representation of the city: T.C. Boyle’s novel The Tortilla Curtain. In the process, it is shown how urban conditions, racism and nature, especially in the form of ecological disasters, intersect and influence each other.

The Bloomsbury Companion to Robert Boyle

The Bloomsbury Companion to Robert Boyle PDF Author: Jan-Erik Jones
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350029378
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Get Book

Book Description
Robert Boyle, well known in scientific circles, has still not received the credit he deserves in philosophy. A leader in experimental philosophy, his interests range from morality and philosophy of religion to epistemology and the philosophy of science. The Bloomsbury Companion to Robert Boyle brings together the latest work on the lesser known aspects of Boyle's philosophy, alongside some of his best known views, and surveys the full range of his philosophy for the first time. Situating Boyle within the philosophical and scientific traditions and introducing his zeal for experiment and commitment to the improvement of humanity, chapters reveal how crucial chemistry and alchemy are to his philosophy of science. They take up the metaphysical and ontological consequences of his philosophy and discuss his influence in the 17th and 18th centuries. Highlighting the importance of his moral theory and theological commitments for his philosophy of science, metaphysics and epistemology, chapters show how they motivate Boyle's philosophical positions and practices. For students or researchers looking to better understand Boyle's contribution to philosophy The Bloomsbury Companion to Robert Boyle is a comprehensive and invaluable guide. By taking into account the last thirty years of scholarship and pointing towards the next thirty years it presents the best of the current research on Boyle's philosophy and significance today.

Robert Boyle and Seventeenth-century Chemistry

Robert Boyle and Seventeenth-century Chemistry PDF Author: Marie Boas
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN:
Category : Chemists
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book

Book Description


The Boyle Papers

The Boyle Papers PDF Author: Michael Hunter
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351893718
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 499

Get Book

Book Description
Robert Boyle (1627-91) was the most influential British scientist of the late seventeenth century. His huge archive, which has been at the Royal Society since 1769, has only recently been explored, leading to a new understanding of many aspects of Boyle's thought. This volume brings together the essential materials for understanding the Boyle Papers. It includes a revised version of Michael Hunter's fundamental study of the archive, first published in 1992, which elucidates its history and the way in which handwriting evidence can be used to identify chronological strata within it, thus making it possible to trace the development of Boyle's ideas. Other chapters deal with such components of the Papers as Boyle's 'workdiaries' and his projected Paralipomena; another uses material from the archive to illuminate the making of a key work by Boyle, his Free Inquiry into the Vulgarly Receiv'd Notion of Nature; while another illustrates that, large as the archive is, it is only a part of what existed in Boyle's lifetime. Parts of the content have been published before, but they are here presented in revised and fully indexed form. Lastly, the volume includes a completely revised version of the catalogue of the Boyle Papers, Letters and ancillary manuscripts originally published in 1992, updating it by tabulating the extensive use of the archive made in recent years in connection with the publication of the definitive editions of Boyle's Works and Correspondence (1999-2001). In all, the volume will be indispensable to anyone with a serious interest in Boyle.

Fire Protection Service

Fire Protection Service PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 268

Get Book

Book Description


Fire and Water Engineering

Fire and Water Engineering PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fire prevention
Languages : en
Pages : 464

Get Book

Book Description