Introduction.- Part A: The Historical Question. 1. Gallileo's Challenge. 2. The Correspondence. 3. Hooke's Programme.- Part B: The Historiographic Difficulty. 4. Hooke vs. Newton. 5. The Genius vs. The Mechanic. 1. Inflection. Introduction: The Bad Ending.- Part A: The Novelty. 1. Hooke's Programme. 2. Setting the Question Right.- Part B: Employing Inflection. 3. Inflection. 4. Application as Manipulation.-- Part C: Producing Inflection in the Workshop. 5. Construction. 6. Implementation. 7. Tentative Conclusion.- 1.st Interlude: Practice. 1. Introduction - Methodological Lessons. 2. Hacking. 3. The Realism Snare. 2. Power.- Part A: 1. Introduction. 2. De Potentia Restitutiva, or: Of Spring.- Part B: 3. Horology. 4. The Spring Watch. 5. Springs and Forces.- Part C: 6. The Origins of the Vibration Theory. 7. Of Spring again. 8. Springs as a Topos. 9. A Clockwork Theory of Matter and Power.- 2.nd Interlude: Representation. 1. Rorty. 2. 'Knowledge Of and 'Knowledge That'. 3. Hacking and Rorty. 3. Newton's Synthesis. 1. Introduction. 2. Newton Before and After. 3. Hooke's Programme. Notes. Introduction. 1. Inflection. 1st Interlude: Practice. 2. Clocks, Pendulums and Springs.- 2.nd Interlude: Representation. 3. Newton's Synthesis.- Bibliography.- Index.
From the reviews: "...I find Meanest Foundations and Nobler
Superstructures to be an excellent resource in the history of
science and particularly valuable for its recognition of Hooke's
scientific style."
(Physics Today, September 2003) "This book is very densely packed
with theses, issues, new ideas, and historical and philosophical
comparisons – all very well researched and thoroughly documented. …
a well-written and in particular very well researched study in the
history and philosophy of science of one of the most important and
interesting periods in the history of Western science and in
intellectual history as a whole. Students of the period and of
history and philosophy of science in general will find it an
important addition to the discipline’s literature." (Zvi Solow, The
Jerusalem Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 54, July, 2005)
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