Craig Martin takes a careful look at how Renaissance scientists
analyzed and interpreted rain, wind, and other natural phenomena
like meteors and earthquakes and their impact on the great thinkers
of the scientific revolution.
Martin argues that meteorology was crucial to the transformation
that took place in science during the early modern period. By
examining the conceptual foundations of the subject, Martin links
Aristotelian meteorology with the new natural philosophies of the
seventeenth century. He argues that because meteorology involved
conjecture and observation and forced attention to material and
efficient causation, it paralleled developments in the natural
philosophies of Descartes and other key figures of the scientific
revolution.
Although an inherently uncertain endeavor, forecasting the
weather was an extremely useful component not just of scientific
study, but also of politics, courtly life, and religious doctrine.
Martin explores how natural philosophers of the time participated
in political and religious controversies by debating the meanings,
causes, and purposes of natural disasters and other weather
phenomena.
Through careful readings of an impressive range of texts, Martin
situates the history of meteorology within the larger context of
Renaissance and early modern science. The first study on
Renaissance theories of weather in five decades, "Renaissance
Meteorology" offers a novel understanding of traditional natural
philosophy and its impact on the development of modern science.
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