Thinking with Objects: The Transformation of Mechanics in the Seventeenth Century
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.11 (562 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0801884276 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 408 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-10-24 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
(David Nuttall Physics Education)A brilliant study that is sure to become a classic in its field. (Jurgen Renn Renaissance Quarterly)A superb, if difficult book, that belongs as basic to the curriculum of early modern history of science. (Choice)Fascinating reading for anyone interested in the history of science incredibly thorough. (Sophie Roux Metascience)Full of pertinent detail in the text itself, Thinking with Objects cleverly uses the captions of figures to provide more extended samples of seventeenth–century arguments, thus demonstrating in practice how helpful it is to think with visual or geometric representations. An erudite, profoundly learned, and important work. (Margaret Jacob History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences)Meli's stress on the importance of engagement
Domenico Bertoloni Meli is a professor of history and philosophy of science at Indiana University.
His study is a recommended survey for any class strong in science history. Midwest Book Review THINKING WITH OBJECTS: THE TRANSFORMATION OF MECHANICS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY is a pick for college-level collections strong on both science and history: it examines the changes which took place in mechanics during the 18th century, considering major texts from Galileo, Descartes and others as it surveys the shift f. Ordinary history disguised as historiographical innovation Viktor Blasjo In his introduction, Meli presents his focus on "objects" (i.e., levers, pendulums, etc.), as a fresh historiographical perspective rivalling the traditional focus on laws such as the law of inertia and F=ma. While this is a thought-provoking idea, it is unfortunately little but window dressing. Truth be told, the rest
Bertoloni Meli uses similarities and tensions between dal Monte and Galileo as a springboard for exploring the revolutionary nature of seventeenth-century mechanics. By giving center stage to objectslevers, inclined planes, beams, pendulums, springs, and falling and projected bodiesDomenico Bertoloni Meli provides a unique and comprehensive portrayal of mechanics as practitioners understood it at the time. Thinking with Objects offers a fresh view of the transformation that took place in mechanics during the 17th century. From Pappus of Alexandria to Guidobaldo dal Monte, Bertoloni Meli sees significant developments in the history of mechanical experimentation, all of them crucial for understanding Galileo. Bertoloni Meli reexamines such major texts as Galileo’s Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences, Descartes’ Principles of Philosophy, and Newton’s Principia, and in them finds a reliance on objects that has escaped proper understanding. Examining objects helps us appreciate the shift from the study to the practice of mechanics and challenges artificial dichotomies among practical and conceptual pursuits, mathematics, and experiment.