Called 'the most noted person of his age' by Anthony Wood, Henry Stubbe (1632-76), classicist, polemicist, physician, philosopher and the most important critic of the early Royal Society, has never had a biography. This study seeks to fill that gap, while standing received opinion about him on its head. The older view has it that at the Restoration Stubbe renounced his radical past and became the enemy of scientific progress and a reactionary defender of church and monarchy. Professor Jacob shows instead that Stubbe continued to espouse radical views after 1660 by devious means. Publicly he resorted to a rhetoric of subterfuge, while he let the full extent of his radicalism be known in private conversations at Bath and in an important clandestine manuscript (which Jacob proves to be his) that circulated among radicals from the early 1670s well into the eighteenth century. (view table of contents)

This clear and concise survey charts the momentous change, the shift from ancient and medieval science to the beginnings of modern science, that has come to be called the Scientific Revolution. Starting with traditions of the ancient Greeks and the Christianizing of pagan philosophy during the middle ages, later chapters go on to show how these ancient and medieval traditions were either overhauled or overthrown by early moderm natural philosophers. Aristotelian cosmology was replaced by a new astronomy and physics, and animal physiology and medicine were put on new foundations. New scientific methodologies were proposed and scientific societies were organized to harness the power of science for the good of the state. Professor Jacob provides a masterful summary of the most recent scholarship surrounding these developments in language accessible to the nonscientist. But this narrative does not stop at an account of the events themselves--it sets them in a broader cultural context. The impact on science of the invention of the printing press is discussed as is the contribution of Renaissance humanism, Neoplatonism and magic. Even more importantly, the dynamic relations between religion and science are treated in detail and the question addressed of just how the crisis of authority in science reflected the crisis of authority in society. (view table of contents)

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Product Description: in good condition even though its been in storage for quite some time

Product Description: Book by Perry, Marvin, Chase, Myrna, Jacob, James R., Jacob, Margaret C., Von Laue, Theodore H.