The Origins of Modern Science [Paperback]

Herbert Butterfield (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; Revised edition (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684836378
• ISBN-13: 978-0684836379
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #454,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Scientific Revolution Begins with the Dowfall of Aristotle's Physics, October 16, 2005

By 

Didaskalex "Eusebius Alexandrinus" (Kellia on Calvary, Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Origins of Modern Science (Paperback)

The Scientific Revolution:
As spelled out in the introduction, to the book based on his lectures in 1948 the Scientific Revolution, popularly associated with the 16th and 17th century, has started much earlier than the Renaissance. Butterfield advanced the notion of its eruption was caused by the 'destruction of Aristotaslian physics,' that was crucial to the development of science that was the basis of western civilization. This is the best praise for an Alexandrian scientist he never mentioned, the sixth century dean of the academy in Alexandria, John Philoponus.

Butterfield's Historiography:
Thomas Kuhn was a milestone in the historiography of science by studying in depth how science evolved with new established concepts and ideas and how these catalyzed displacing the old ways of thinking with brisk new methods. What one of Kuhn's obituaries noted, "We all live in a post-Kuhnian age," so more applies with Butterfield treatment, especially when it concerns origins of modern science, which was not one of his favorite subjects. In the words of a history of science reviewer, Butterfield's observations that better described the underlying reality of the fields of science he considered lacked a scientific analysis that weakened his historiographic conclusions.

The Impetus Theory:
Although he started logically with the historical importance of 'Impetus Theory,'as the point of breakthrough, on obsolesence of the body of Aristotalian physics, he failed to identify, while Kuhn did, to dig out who effectively attacked it into rubble in the sixth century. On the same year, he revised the 'Origins' in 1957 Kuhn in,'The Copernican Revolution', wrote on page 119 that, "John Philoponus, the sixth-century Christian commentator who records the earliest extant rejection of aristotle's theory, attribute his ... to Hippacrius."
Early on, in his Origins, he discusses Buridan (14th century), who elaborated on projectile dynamics, and quoted Philoponus, before Copernicus who read him, when he studied in the university of Padua, under or with Galileo who paid respect to John's pioneering thought in dynamics and astronomy. (Essays on Galileo & the History and Philosophy of Science, S. Drake)
He missed the point again when he discussed the 'Downfall of Aristotle and Ptolemy,' which in both cases the Alexandrian Genius was the major catalyst many centuries before. This being said, the volume of books that were published in the last years, in the UK after his death, made the flaw even more obvious.

Basic reading?
'The Origins of Modern Science' is basic reading, keeping in mind it was an original work on the history and philosophy of science. Butterfield's lectures described the prevailing milieu of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries but did not give enough attention to their origins in the great city of science: Alexandria, which made the book core idea not supported.
An in depth modern treatment of the subject, in the Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology is; "Science and Technology in World History : An Introduction"

Herbert Butterfield:
Butterfield, a British historian and philosopher of history, mainly remembered for his work on Interpretation of History. He taught at Princeton University (1924/5) and at Cambridge from 1928 to 1979. Butterfield's main interests were diplomatic history and historiography, and was highly concerned with religious issues, but he did not believe that historians could uncover the hand of God in history.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting addition to my science library - 4*, March 25, 2011

By 

Metallurgist (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Origins of Modern Science (Paperback)

This book was originally written in 1957, but has been reissued as a paperback. An important aspect of the book that any perspective reader should be aware of is the subtitle, 1300-1800. Thus, these origins do not go back to the ancient Greeks or even to Ptolemy. The book does, however, cover Newton, which many books on the origins of science neglect because they stop the story well short of the 17th century.

The book covers Copernicus and the development of the theory of gravitation. It also covers the study of the heart and general topics such as the history of the Philosophe Movement during the reign of Louis XIV, the place of the scientific revolution in the history of western civilization and the scientific revolution in chemistry. I particularly liked the section of gravitation as it covered the precursors to Newton and how Newton built on their work.

This book should be of most interest to those interested in the history of science, as opposed to a general audience and it because of this limited appeal that I am giving the book 4 instead of five stars.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superb Book, September 29, 2003

By 

Benjamin B. Eshbach "Ben Eshbach" (Los Angeles, Ca) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Origins of Modern Science (Paperback)

Professor Butterfield's history is easy to read and refreshing. Especially interesting are his chapters on pre-Newtonian mechanics and the transfer from Ptolemaic to Copernican models of the universe.