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A Subtle and Mysterious MachineRewriting Walter Charleton: Physick and Natural Philosophy

A Subtle and Mysterious Machine: Rewriting Walter Charleton: Physick and Natural Philosophy CHAPTER II REWRITING WALTER CHARLETON: PHYSICK AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY In order to reexamine Charleton, we need to scrutinise some assumptions implicit in existing scholarship on the subject. Specific studies of Charleton are rare. Interest in him seems to have flowered in the 1950s, and is evident in spo- radic articles through the 1960s and 1970s. Few historians have studied his full career. Lindsay Sharp’s article on his early life was, for decades, the only detailed study, though facsimile editions of several of Charleton’s works have been published, bringing with them further surveys. A striking similarity among historical accounts of Charleton is the role attributed to the process of ‘scientific revolution’. Many accounts cast him as an indicator of the very process of intellectual transition, due to his public rejection in the 1650s of the hermetic philosophy that he had seemed earlier to embrace. Definitions of Charleton’s career as simultaneous and commensurate with the process of sci- entific revolution reflect and reinforce particular views of that revolution, and restrict our ability to understand him as he might have understood himself. Many now argue that the notion of a ‘scientific revolution’ arises from ques- tionable beliefs about the nature of science. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Subtle and Mysterious MachineRewriting Walter Charleton: Physick and Natural Philosophy

Part of the Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Book Series (volume 18)
Editors: Booth, Emily
Springer Journals — Jan 1, 2005
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19 pages

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Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Copyright
© Springer 2005
ISBN
978-1-4020-3377-3
Pages
32 –51
DOI
10.1007/1-4020-3378-8_2
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

CHAPTER II REWRITING WALTER CHARLETON: PHYSICK AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY In order to reexamine Charleton, we need to scrutinise some assumptions implicit in existing scholarship on the subject. Specific studies of Charleton are rare. Interest in him seems to have flowered in the 1950s, and is evident in spo- radic articles through the 1960s and 1970s. Few historians have studied his full career. Lindsay Sharp’s article on his early life was, for decades, the only detailed study, though facsimile editions of several of Charleton’s works have been published, bringing with them further surveys. A striking similarity among historical accounts of Charleton is the role attributed to the process of ‘scientific revolution’. Many accounts cast him as an indicator of the very process of intellectual transition, due to his public rejection in the 1650s of the hermetic philosophy that he had seemed earlier to embrace. Definitions of Charleton’s career as simultaneous and commensurate with the process of sci- entific revolution reflect and reinforce particular views of that revolution, and restrict our ability to understand him as he might have understood himself. Many now argue that the notion of a ‘scientific revolution’ arises from ques- tionable beliefs about the nature of science.

Published: Jan 1, 2005

Keywords: Royal Society; Seventeenth Century; World View; Social History; Scientific Revolution

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