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A Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy
Originally published in 1830, this book can be called the first modern work in the philosophy of science, covering an extraordinary range of philosophical, methodological, and scientific subjects.
"Herschel's book . . . brilliantly analyzes both the history and nature of science."—Keith Stewart Thomson, American Scientist
"Herschel's book . . . brilliantly analyzes both the history and nature of science."—Keith Stewart Thomson, American Scientist
400 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 1987
About the author
John Herschel
224 books13 followersBritish astronomer Sir John Frederick William Herschel, son of William Herschel, brother of Caroline Herschel, cataloged nearly two thousand more deep-sky objects and conducted notable research on light, photography, and astrophysics.
This English mathematician, chemist, experimental photographer, and inventor in some years also worked valuably on botany. The son of Mary Baldwin Herschel, he fathered 12 children.
Herschel originated the use of the Julian day system in astronomy. He named seven moons of Saturn and four moons of Uranus. He made many contributions to the science of photography, and investigated colorblindness and the chemical power of ultraviolet rays.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_He...
This English mathematician, chemist, experimental photographer, and inventor in some years also worked valuably on botany. The son of Mary Baldwin Herschel, he fathered 12 children.
Herschel originated the use of the Julian day system in astronomy. He named seven moons of Saturn and four moons of Uranus. He made many contributions to the science of photography, and investigated colorblindness and the chemical power of ultraviolet rays.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_He...
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September 29, 2024
AN ENGLISH SCIENTIST LOOKS AT THE PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL HISTORY
John Frederick William Herschel (1792-1871) was an English mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, and experimental photographer.
He wrote in the first chapter of this 1831 book, "[Man] is led to the conception of a Power and an Intelligence superior to his own, and adequate to the production and maintenance of all that he sees in nature---a Power and Intelligence to which he may well apply the term infinite... refinement follows upon refinement, wonder on wonder, till his faculties become bewildered in admiration, and his intellect falls back on itself in utter hopelessness of arriving at an end." (Pg. 4-5)
He argues, "when we see a great number of things precisely alike, we do not believe this similarity to have originated except from a common principle independent of them... A line of spinning-jennies, or a regiment of soldiers dressed exactly alike, and going through precisely the same evolutions, gives us no idea of independent existence... And this conclusion... acquires irresistible force when their number if magnified beyond the power of imagination to conceive. If we mistake not, then, the discoveries alluded to effectually destroy the ideas of an eternal self-existent matter, by giving to each of its atoms the essential characters, at once, of a manufactured article, and a subordinate agent." (Pg. 38)
He observes, "Natural History may be considered in two very different lights: either, 1st, as a collection of facts and objects presented by nature, from the examination, analysis, and combination of which we acquire whatever knowledge we are capable of attaining both of the order of nature, and of the agents she employs for producing her ends, and from which, therefore, all sciences arise; or 2ndly, as an assemblage of phenomena to be explained; of effects to be deduced from causes; and of materials prepared to our hands, for the application of our principles to useful purposes. Natural history, therefore, considered in the one of the other of these points of view, is either the beginning or the end of physical science." (Pg. 221)
This book will be of interest to students of Natural Religion, and of the history of the religious interpretation of science.
John Frederick William Herschel (1792-1871) was an English mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, and experimental photographer.
He wrote in the first chapter of this 1831 book, "[Man] is led to the conception of a Power and an Intelligence superior to his own, and adequate to the production and maintenance of all that he sees in nature---a Power and Intelligence to which he may well apply the term infinite... refinement follows upon refinement, wonder on wonder, till his faculties become bewildered in admiration, and his intellect falls back on itself in utter hopelessness of arriving at an end." (Pg. 4-5)
He argues, "when we see a great number of things precisely alike, we do not believe this similarity to have originated except from a common principle independent of them... A line of spinning-jennies, or a regiment of soldiers dressed exactly alike, and going through precisely the same evolutions, gives us no idea of independent existence... And this conclusion... acquires irresistible force when their number if magnified beyond the power of imagination to conceive. If we mistake not, then, the discoveries alluded to effectually destroy the ideas of an eternal self-existent matter, by giving to each of its atoms the essential characters, at once, of a manufactured article, and a subordinate agent." (Pg. 38)
He observes, "Natural History may be considered in two very different lights: either, 1st, as a collection of facts and objects presented by nature, from the examination, analysis, and combination of which we acquire whatever knowledge we are capable of attaining both of the order of nature, and of the agents she employs for producing her ends, and from which, therefore, all sciences arise; or 2ndly, as an assemblage of phenomena to be explained; of effects to be deduced from causes; and of materials prepared to our hands, for the application of our principles to useful purposes. Natural history, therefore, considered in the one of the other of these points of view, is either the beginning or the end of physical science." (Pg. 221)
This book will be of interest to students of Natural Religion, and of the history of the religious interpretation of science.
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