First published in 1840, this two-volume treatise by Cambridge polymath William Whewell (1794–1886) remains significant in the philosophy of science. The work was intended as the 'moral' to his three-volume History of the Inductive Sciences (1837), which is also reissued in this series. Building on philosophical foundations laid by Immanuel Kant and Francis Bacon, Whewell opens with the aphorism 'Man is the Interpreter of Nature, Science the right interpretation'. Volume 1 contains the majority of Whewell's section on 'ideas', in which he investigates the philosophy underlying a range of different disciplines, including pure, classificatory and mechanical sciences. Whewell's work upholds throughout his belief that the mind was active and not merely a passive receiver of knowledge from the world. A key text in Victorian epistemological debates, notably challenged by John Stuart Mill and his System of Logic, Whewell's treatise merits continued study and discussion in the present day.
By:
William Whewell
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 140mm,
Spine: 36mm
Weight: 810g
ISBN: 9781108064026
ISBN 10: 1108064027
Series: Cambridge Library Collection - Philosophy
Pages: 648
Publication Date: 02 January 2014
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface; Aphorisms respecting ideas, knowledge, and the language of science; Part I. Of Ideas: 1. Of ideas in general; 2. The philosophy of the pure sciences; 3. The philosophy of the mechanical sciences; 4. The philosophy of the secondary mechanical sciences; 5. The philosophy of the mechanico-chemical sciences; 6. The philosophy of chemistry; 7. The philosophy of morphology, including crystallography; 8. Philosophy of the classificatory sciences.
