| The Janus Faces of Genius: The Role of Alchemy in Newton's Thought Contributor(s): Dobbs, Betty J. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0521380847 ISBN-13: 9780521380843 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $128.25 Product Type: Hardcover Published: May 1992 Annotation: In this major reevaluation of Isaac Newton's intellectual life, Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs shows how his pioneering work in mathematics, physics, and cosmology was intimately intertwined with his study of alchemy. Directing attention to the religious ambience of the alchemical enterprise of early modern Europe, Dobbs argues that Newton understood alchemy--and the divine activity in micromatter to which it spoke--to be a much needed corrective to the overly mechanized system of Descartes. Yet that religious basis was not limited to alchemy, but suffused the rest of his work. Newton, whose many different studies constituted a unified plan for obtaining Truth, saw value and relevance in all of his pursuits. To him it seemed possible to obtain partial truths from many different approaches to knowledge, be it textual work aimed at the interpretation of prophecy, the study of ancient theology and philosophy, creative mathematics, or experiments with prisms, pendulums, vegetating minerals, light, or electricity. Newton's work was a constant attempt to bring these partial truths together, with the larger goal of restoring true natural philosophy and true religion. Within this broad interpretative strategy, Dobbs traces the evolution of Newton's thought in alchemy, religion, and cosmology, and details his struggles with the interwoven problems of the microcosmic spirit of alchemy and the cause of the cosmic principle of gravitation. A landmark study of the "founder of modern science", The Janus Faces of Genius is an important contribution to the history of science. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Science & Technology - Science | History |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 91008695 |
| Physical Information: 1.02" H x 6.28" W x 9.27" (1.45 lbs) 376 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In this major reevaluation of Isaac Newton's intellectual life, Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs shows how his pioneering work in mathematics, physics, and cosmology was intertwined with his study of alchemy. Professor Dobbs argues that to Newton those several intellectual pursuits were all ways of approaching Truth, and that Newton's primary goal was not the study of nature for its own sake but rather an attempt to establish a unified system that would have included both natural and divine principles. She also argues that Newton's methodology was much broader than modern scholars have previously supposed, and she traces the evolution of his thought on the intertwined problems of the microcosmic "vegetable spirit" of alchemy and the "cause" of the cosmic principle of gravitation. |
