Drawing on the results of his own scholarly research as well as
that of others the author offers, for the first time, a
comprehensive and documented history of theories of the atom from
Democritus to the twentieth century. This is not history for its
own sake. By critically reflecting on the various versions of
atomic theories of the past the author is able to grapple with the
question of what sets scientific knowledge apart from other kinds
of knowledge, philosophical knowledge in particular. He thereby
engages historically with issues concerning the nature and status
of scientific knowledge that were dealt with in a more abstract way
in his What Is This Thing Called Science?, a book that has been a
standard text in philosophy of science for three decades and which
is available in nineteen languages. Speculations about the
fundamental structure of matter from Democritus to the
seventeenth-century mechanical philosophers and beyond are
construed as categorically distinct from atomic theories amenable
to experimental investigation and support and as contributing
little to the latter from a historical point of view. The thesis
will provoke historians and philosophers of science alike and will
require a revision of a range of standard views in the history of
science and philosophy. The book is key reading for students and
scholars in History and Philosophy of Science and will be
instructive for and provide a challenge to philosophers, historians
and scientists more generally.
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