Essays on Galileo and the History and Philosophy of Science

by Drake, Stillman; Swerdlow, N.M.; Levere, T.H.

• ISBN13: 9780802075857
• ISBN10: 0802075851
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-06-01
• Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr

Summary

For forty years, beginning with the publication of the first modern English translation of the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Stillman Drake was the most original and productive scholar of Galileo's scientific work of our age. During that time, he published sixteen books on Galileo, including translations of almost all the major writings, and Galileo at Work, the most comprehensive study of Galileo's life and works ever written. Drake also published about 130 papers, of which nearly 100 are on Galileo and the rest on related aspects of the history and philosophy of science. The three-volume collection Essays on Galileo and the History and Philosophy of Scienceincludes 80 of those papers. Volume I contains a bibliography of the writings of Stillman Drake, biographical sketches of both Galileo and Drake, and various essays covering the broad range of Galileo's scientific endeavors, including outlines of the humanistic and religious background of his era. Other essays take up textual and bibliographical issues, analysing Galileo's mass of notes, treatises, and numerous fragments, previously collected in folios, manuscripts, and unreliable copies. Drake's wide-ranging essays cover Galileo's place in the philosophy of science, his relation to his forebears and impact on posterity, and his contribution to astronomy. In addition, the essays take up ongoing controversies, such as Galileo's stance on the affinity of science with the corpus of human knowledge. Volume I of Stillman Drake's Essays on Galileo and the History and Philosophy of Scienceserves as a comprehensive introduction to Galileo's life, science, and writings, and with its forthcoming companion volumes, will indeed be a fitting tribute to the memory of one of Canada's most accomplished scholars.

Author Biography

N.M. Swerdlow is Professor, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago. T.H. LEVERE is Professor and Director, Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	xi
Prologue: Darke's Speech On Receiving The International Galileo Prize For History Of Italian Science	xix
Part I Galileo: Biographical and General	1	(166)
Galileo: A Biographical Sketch	5	(15)
The Scientific Personality of Galileo	20	(14)
Galileo's Explorations in Science	34	(16)
Galileo's Language: Mathematics and Poetry in a New Science	50	(13)
Mathematics, Astronomy, and Physics in the Work of Galileo	63	(26)
Measurement in Galileo's Science	89	(17)
Exact Sciences, Primitive Instruments, and Galileo	106	(20)
The Accademia dei Lincei	126	(16)
On the Conflicting Documents of Galileo's Trial	142	(11)
Galileo and the Church	153	(14)
Part II Galileo: Bibliographical and Textual Studies	167	(86)
Galilieo Gleanings XXI: On the Probable Order of Galileo's Notes on Motion	171	(14)
Dating Unpublished Notes, Such As Galileo's on Motion	185	(16)
Galileo Gleanings XXIV: The Evolution of De motu	201	(14)
Galileo's Pre-Paduan Writings: Years, Sources, Motivations	215	(21)
Galileo in English Literature of the Seventeenth Century	236	(17)
Part III Galileo: Scientific Method and Philosophy of Science	253	(68)
Galileo and the Career of Philosophy	257	(16)
Ptolemy, Galileo, and Scientific Method	273	(20)
Galileo's Procedures, and Metaphysics	293	(13)
Theory and Practice in Early Modern Physics	306	(15)
Part IV Galileo: Astronomy	321	(148)
Copermicanism in Bruno, Kepler, and Galileo	325	(15)
Kepler and Galileo	340	(11)
Galileo's Steps to Full Copermicanism, and Back	351	(13)
Galileo's ``Platonic'' Cosmogony and Kepler's Prodromus	364	(16)
Galileo's First Telescopic Observations	380	(16)
Galileo, Kepler, and Phases of Venus	396	(14)
Galileo and Satellite Prediction	410	(20)
Galileo's Sighting of Neptune (with Charles t. Kowal)	430	(12)
Galileo Gleanings III: A Kind Word for Sizzi	442	(16)
A Neglected Galilean Letter	458	(11)
Index	469
Illustrations follwo page	200