protomattr reviewed The invention of science by David Wootton
Review of 'The invention of science' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This excellent, comprehensive, astonishingly well-researched, and above all enthralling book seeks to establish an inflection point in history indicating the birth of science, much like Stephen Greenblatt's The Swerve. But rather than focusing on the rediscovery of Lucretius, Wootton looks to the discovery of America and the nova observed by Tycho Brahe as the moments that shattered the crystal spheres of Aristotle and ushered in the new science with its basis in experiment. Additionally, he tracks the emergence of science linguistically, by identifying when the modern contexts (which we take for granted) of scientific words, such as "fact," "evidence," "experiment," "hypothesis," and "theory," come into use. I found this a compelling method, as well as an interesting counterpoint to my limited experience with Aristotle (his "Physics"), in which I got frustrated with his deduction from etymology (not a real example, but something like, "rainbows are beams of light curved into …
This excellent, comprehensive, astonishingly well-researched, and above all enthralling book seeks to establish an inflection point in history indicating the birth of science, much like Stephen Greenblatt's The Swerve. But rather than focusing on the rediscovery of Lucretius, Wootton looks to the discovery of America and the nova observed by Tycho Brahe as the moments that shattered the crystal spheres of Aristotle and ushered in the new science with its basis in experiment. Additionally, he tracks the emergence of science linguistically, by identifying when the modern contexts (which we take for granted) of scientific words, such as "fact," "evidence," "experiment," "hypothesis," and "theory," come into use. I found this a compelling method, as well as an interesting counterpoint to my limited experience with Aristotle (his "Physics"), in which I got frustrated with his deduction from etymology (not a real example, but something like, "rainbows are beams of light curved into bows by the rain, and that is why we call them rainbows"). I am a big fan of the ancient Greeks and Platonic philosophy, but as far as I am concerned, Aristotle got what he deserved.
This book makes clear that we are still living through an intellectual revolution, one that touches on all aspects of our lives, and is still meeting with resistance while deepening our understanding of the Universe, half a millennium later. May the revolution continue.
