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For the Week of 10/29/08 |
Assignment 9
Descartes and Boyle
Both of these diagrams are
depictions of the Cartesian vortices that cause ortital motion in the
plenum.
To have any idea of what this
means, read below. See also the
Fontenelle image below.
It is a bit more explicit, but
perhaps a bit more fanciful as well.
For Wed.
Read pp. 87-92, 100-105, and 109-111
– Sections on and by Descartes (1596-1650) and a short thing on Boyle: Descartes-From_Matthews-2.9MB.pdf. ca. 13pp
Read this short selection on and
from Descartes: Descartes-From_Burke-1.6MB.pdf.
ca. 6pp
Read pp. 5-7 from DescartesÕ Treatise on Light: Descartes_CH13-4OnLight-332.KB.pdf Read the first 5 pages too if you want
more information or for use in a souped up essay. 2pp
Read pp. 46-60 of Sabra_Ch2-Theories_of_Light-3.5MB.pdf.
Read the other parts if you wish and/or want some souped up materials. 14pp
For Thurs.
Read this article by Steven Shapin,
"Pump and Circumstance: Robert Boyle's Literary Technology." Shapin_PumpAndCircumstance-3.9MB.pdf
Read this thing by Jardin: Jardin_Ingenious-HookeBoyle-2.2MB.pdf.
Read pp. 1-18 of the Westfall book
we bought for class: The Live of Isaac
Newton.
Write an essay on some Cartesian or
Boylian topic. I put some articles
of interest below for a souped up version.
Feel
free to compare ideas with other things we have read in the past couple of
months and to speculate on the present and your experiences. Theory acquisition in general is quite
interesting. As you have seen,
there wasnÕt incontrovertible proof for a heliocentric cosmos nor was there
much proof for atoms, and yet people started to believe in them. People believe EinsteinÕs relativity
theories, they believe Darwin, they believe in quantum mechanics. Why? On what proof?
Ideas: Think about the
implications of mechanistic rather than metaphysical nature. Figure out his theory of light. Would his light move faster or slower
through a dense medium? Are his
parts of matter flexible or are they totally rigid? How does he construct his arguments? Is he more like Harvey or more like
Galileo? How important is logic?
How important is observation? How
important is rhetoric? Vortices
and the cosmos. Why are vortices
necessary? Why not just
independent collisions and rebounds?
Types of matterÉ globules again,É continuous vs. discreteÉ. Òsalt, sulfur, mercuryÓ Expensive machines, Observation vs.
vexing nature , Literature as stand-in for eye-witness , Pictures as stand-in
for eye-witness, [Philosophically, how does this compare to photographs or
videoÉ especially with PhotoshopÉ] How does reporting failed experiments make
the successful ones more credible? Is it unbiased and innocent or just more
rhetorical trickery? What weighs more a pound of lead, of feathers, or of air?
What does Boyle mean by the word ÒvacuumÓ? Hobbes made a flatulence joke?
Purpose of popularization.
Citations to the assigned readings and to
other materials for a souped up essay.
Armitage, Angus. "Rene
Descartes (1596-1650) and the Early Royal Society." Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 8, no. 1 (1950):
1-19. Armitage-Descartes_Royal_Society-1.8MB.pdf Nice overview.
Boyle, Robert. "Chapter 6:
Boyle." In The Scientific Background
to Modern Philosophy : Selected Readings, ed. Michael R. Matthews, pp.
109-123. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub., 1989. Descartes-From_Matthews-2.9MB.pdf.
Burke, John G., ed. Sections
from DescartesÕ Writings. Science &
Culture in the Western Tradition: Sources and Interpretations. Scottsdale,
Ariz.: Gorsuch Scarisbrick, 1987.
Clarke, Angus G.
"Metoposcopy: An Art to Find the Mind's Construction in the
Forehead." In Astrology, Science,
and Society: Historical Essays, ed. Patrick Curry, 171-196. Wolfeboro,
N.H.: Boydell Press, 1987. Clarke-Metoposcopy-Mind_in_Forehead-Curry,ed.-5MB.pdf
Curley, E. M. "Locke,
Boyle, and the Distinction between Primary and Secondary Qualities." The Philosophical Review 81, no. 4
(1972): pp. 438-464. Curley_LockeBoylePrimarySecondary-672MB.pdf
Descartes, Rene. The
World, or Treatise on Light. Translated by Michael S. Mahoney. Excerpts
extracted for SciRev. www.princeton.edu/~hos/mike/texts/descartes/world/worldfr.htm,
Written 1629-33, published later in 17th c.
Dewhurst, Kenneth. "Locke's
Contribution to Boyle's Researches on the Air and on Human Blood." Notes and Records of the Royal Society of
London 17, no. 2 (1962): pp. 198-206. Dewhurst_LockeContributionBoyleBloodResearch-888KB.pdf
Gorham, Geoffrey.
"Mind-Body Dualism and the Harvey-Descartes Controversy." Journal of the History of Ideas 55, no.
2 (1994): 211-234. Gorham_Mind-BodyHarvey-Descartes-796KB.pdf
Though
Descartes agreed with Harvey's theory of circulation, he differed with him on
the mechanical explanation of the heart.
Compares and contrasts Descartes's more deductive method of doing
science with Harvey's more inductive method. Descartes does not like Harvey's seemingly mysterious motion
of the heart. Felt animistic or
vitalistic to him. Descartes felt
the power source was simply fire (without light) in the heart which propelled
the blood and spitits. But
Descartes insists that soul motivated motions are initiated by spirits derived
by the pineal gland, a vitalistic explanation. [229]
Hobbes, Thomas, and Richard
Tuck. Leviathan. Cambridge Texts in the History of
Political Thought. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. (1st
ed. 1651) Available online from Books@Adelaide
2007. Hobbes was an atomist and discusses
it throughout this very famous book.
If you have any interest in government and the issues of justice and
equity and sovernty and natural law and science, this is a book that you cannot
ignore. http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/h/hobbes/thomas/h68l/index.html
Jardine, Lisa. Ingenious Pursuits: Building the Scientific
Revolution: Anchor Books, 2000. Jardin_Ingenious-HookeBoyle-2.2MB.pdf
Kargon, Robert. "Walter Charleton, Robert Boyle, and
the Acceptance of Epicurean Atomism." Isis
55, no. 2 (1964): pp. 184-192. Kargon_CharletonBoyle-atomism-284KB.pdf
Loemker, Leroy E. "Boyle
and Leibniz." Journal of the History
of Ideas 16, no. 1 (1955): 22-43. Loemker_BoyleandLeibniz-2.6MB.pdf
Lynes, John W. "Descartes'
Theory of Elements: From Le Monde to the Principes." Journal of the History of Ideas 43, no. 1 (1982): 55-72. Lynes-Descartes_Elements-2MB.pdf
McLaughlin, Peter. "Descartes on Mind-Body Interaction
and the Conservation of Motion." The
Philosophical Review 102, no. 2 (1993): 155-182. McLaughlin_DecartesMindBodyMotion-2.4MB.pdf
Meinel, Christoph. "Early
Seventeenth-Century Atomism: Theory, Epistemology, and the Insufficiency of
Experiment." Isis 79, no. 1
(1988): pp. 68-103. Meinel_Atomism17thC-1.8MB.pdf
Moore, Leslie.
""Instructive Trees": Swift's Broom-Stick, Boyle's Reflections,
and Satiric Figuration." Eighteenth-Century
Studies 19, no. 3 (1986): 313-332. Moore_SwiftsBroomStickBoyle-376KB.pdf
Renaldo, John J. "Bacon's
Empiricism, Boyle's Science, and the Jesuit Response in Italy." Journal of the History of Ideas 37, no.
4 (1976): 689-695. enaldo_BaconBoyleJesuitItaly-252KB.pdf
Rogers, G. A. J. "Boyle,
Locke, and Reason." Journal of the
History of Ideas 27, no. 2 (1966): pp. 205-216. Rogers_BoyleLockeReason-444MB.pdf
Sabra, A. I. Theories of Light: From Descartes to Newton.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981. Reprint, 1967 first ed.
Shapin, Steven. "Pump and
Circumstance: Robert Boyle's Literary Technology." Social Studies of Science 14, no. 4 (1984): 481-520. Shapin_PumpAndCircumstance-3.9MB.pdf
Shapin, Steven, and Simon
Schaffer. Leviathan and the Air-Pump;
Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life. Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1985. check library
Wilkin, Rebecca M.
"Figuring the Dead Descartes: Claude Clerselier's "Homme De Rene
Descartes" (1664)." Representations,
no. 83 (2003): 38-66. Nice pictures.
Wilkin-Figuring_Dead_Descartes-3.8MB.pdf
-Two editions of Descartes's
treatise on human physiology were published in the 1660s, more than a decade
after his death: Florent Schuyl's "Renatus Des Cartes de homine"
(1662) and Claude Clerselier's "L'Homme de Rene Descartes" (1664).
The principal difference between them lies in the figures that illustrate the
text. Schuyl's figures undermine Descartes's optimism; his anatomical sketches
foreground human mortality, while his landscapes remind the reader of the
fleeting nature of time and of the inevitability of death. In contrast,
Clerselier's illustrations develop Descartes's comparison of the human body to
a machine, which does not live nor, as a result, die. They thus obscure the
fate of the author's dead body and in turn pave the way for the resurrection of
his "esprit".
Pressure and vacuum site: Looks
good but I havenÕt poked around much of it.
Horror Vacui?
The discovery of the weight of air,
and the existence of the vacuum.
A tribute to
Evangelista Torricelli
http://galileo.imss.firenze.it/vuoto/
Modern replica
of BoyleÕs Pump
Notice
the large moon systems of Jupiter and Saturn.
Back to Syllabus [SciRev Fall
2008]
Me – scirevf08@mifami.org
These links are
dead. IÕll fix them before the
exam.
Exam Review:
Ass9ReviewBoyleShapinShaffer84.pdf [740K]
Exam Review: Ass8ReviewCartesianLight.pdf [238K]
My personal favorite from
Descartes:
Excerpt from part I of
Descartes' Discourse On the Method of
Rightly Conducting the Reason, and
Seeking Truth in the Sciences
ÒBut
I believed that I had already given sufficient time to languages, and likewise
to the reading of the writings of the ancients, to their histories and
fables. For to hold converse
with those of other ages and to travel, are almost the same thing. It is useful to know something of the
manners of different nations, that we may be enabled to form a more correct judgment regarding our own, and be
prevented from thinking that everything contrary to our customs is ridiculous
and irrational, a conclusion usually come to by those whose experience has been
limited to their own country. On
the other hand, when too much time is occupied in traveling, we become
strangers to our native country; and the over curious in the customs of the
past are generally ignorant of those of the present. Besides, fictitious narratives lead us to imagine the
possibility of many events that are impossible; and even the most faithful
histories, if they do not wholly misrepresent matters, or exaggerate their
importance to render the account of them more worthy of perusal, omit, at
least, almost always the meanest and least striking of the attendant
circumstances; hence it happens that the remainder does not represent the
truth, and that such as regulate their conduct by examples drawn from this
source, are apt to fall into the extravagances of the knight-errants of
romance, and to entertain projects that exceed their powers.Ó
Newsie stuff:
Chang–ÒFrom
a Strip of Scotch Tape, X-RaysÓ [NY Times, Oct. 23, 2008]
Nuclear
fusion from X-mas wrapping X-rays?
Review Materials:
Quiz-Descartes-Boyle-St.Simon-190KB.pdf
Shapin-Schaffer-Review-Notes-924KB.pdf
[there may be more in this than you really want.]
Also, donÕt forget to look over the Sabra, Descartes, and the Jardin
readings.
Posted: 12/6/08 4:40 PM