Causality and Scientific Explanation Two Volume Set Vol. I Medieval and Early Classical Science Vol. II Classical and Contemporary Science

Wallace, William A.

ISBN 10: 0472089501 / ISBN 13: 9780472089505

Published by University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1972

About this Item

V1 288 pp, V2 422 pp. Covers have very minor wear to corners, edges, crowns, and heels. Small ink inscriptions on FFEPs, interiors else clean, tight, and unmarked. DJs, in mylar, are clipped at one corner and have minor corner wear, no rips or tears. International shipping billed at cost. Photos upon request. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall.

Seller Inventory # 92438

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Causality and Scientific Explanation Two Volume Set Vol. I Medieval and Early Classical Science Vol. II Classical and Contemporary Science
• Publisher: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Publication Date: 1972
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0472089501
• ISBN 13: 9780472089505
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Sets & Multi-Volume
  • Science & Technology

About this title

Synopsis

William Wallace brings a fine intelligence and years of reflection to show how the concept of causal explanation can contribute to the cumulative growth of knowledge in science.

Wallace's approach is historical as well as analytical, and consists in a careful and highly original study of how the search for causes has provided a paradigm of scientific method from its origins in the Middle Ages up to the present day.

The first of two volumes poses the contemporary question and traces its origin back to the 'Posterior Analytics' of Aristotle. The author then concentrates on medieval science to document the impact of the 'Analytics' at the universities of Oxford, Paris, and Padua from the 13th to the 16th centuries, evaluating in the process the rival claims of historians of science as to the importance of these centers for the genesis of the experimental method.

The volume concludes with a study of the founders of modern science from William Gilbert to Isaac Newton, showing the surprising use they made of causal concepts in their own now classical contributions.