Meanest Foundations and Nobler Superstructures: Hooke, Newton and "the Compounding of the Celestiall Motions of the Planetts" (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science) [Hardcover]

Ofer Gal (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1402007329 | ISBN-13: 978-1402007323 | Publication Date: July 31, 2002 | Edition: 1

This book is a historical-epistemological study of one the most consequential idea of early modern celestial mechanics: Robert Hooke's proposal to "compoun[d] the celestial motions of the planets of a direct motion by the tangent & an attractive motion towards a central body," a proposal which Isaac Newton adopted and realized in his Principia. Hooke's Programme was revolutionary both cosmologically and mathematically. It presented "the celestial motions," the proverbial symbol of stability and immutability, as a process of continuous change, and prescribed only parameters of rectilinear motions and rectilinear attractions for calculating their closed curved orbits. Yet the traces of Hooke's construction of his Programme for the heavens lead through his investigations in such earthly disciplines as microscopy, practical optics and horology, and the mathematical tools developed by Newton to accomplish it appear no less local and goal-oriented than Hooke's lenses and springs. This transgression of the boundaries between the theoretical, experimental and technological realms is reminiscent of Hooke's own free excursions in and out of the circles occupied by gentlemen-philosophers, university mathematicians, instrument makers, technicians and servants. It presents an opportunity to examine the social and epistemological distinctions, relations and hierarchies between those realms and their inhabitants, and compels a critical assessment of the philosophical categories they embody.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews: "...I find Meanest Foundations and Nobler Superstructures to be an excellent resource in the history of science and particularly valuable for its recognition of Hooke's scientific style." (Physics Today, September 2003) "This book is very densely packed with theses, issues, new ideas, and historical and philosophical comparisons – all very well researched and thoroughly documented. … a well-written and in particular very well researched study in the history and philosophy of science of one of the most important and interesting periods in the history of Western science and in intellectual history as a whole. Students of the period and of history and philosophy of science in general will find it an important addition to the discipline’s literature." (Zvi Solow, The Jerusalem Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 54, July, 2005)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (July 31, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402007329
• ISBN-13: 978-1402007323
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,066,938 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars A great intellectual adventure, March 22, 2004

By 

Dan Wigdorczick (Israel) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meanest Foundations and Nobler Superstructures: Hooke, Newton and "the Compounding of the Celestiall Motions of the Planetts" (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science) (Hardcover)

In this marvelously written, well-documented book, Ofer Gal presents a philosophico-historical account of one of the greatest intellectual adventures in the history of science. Gal follows the tense correspondence between these two great men, Hook and Newton, tells the fascinating story of their social relationships - a story of class and prestige, competition and envy, mathematics and experimentation - and offers a philosophical analysis of the events, a pragmatic analysis which sheds a new light, a new sympathetic light, on Hook's role in this drama. For anyone who is interested in the history of science, or, quite simply, in science in general, this is a must read.