The Unity of Science and the Search for a Unity of Understanding in the Modern Era

Titolo Rivista RIVISTA DI STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA
Autori/Curatori Stephen Gaukroger
Anno di pubblicazione 2017 Fascicolo 2017/4
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 21 P. 553-573 Dimensione file 72 KB
DOI 10.3280/SF2017-004002
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This article deals with the concern for the unity of knowledge in the modern era. The Author traces the origins of this concern to the thirteenth century, when a decisive shift occurred from a contemplative notion of understanding in which the object of study was always unitary (since it was ultimately the work of God) to one in which different forms of understanding needed to be reconciled - at this point specifically natural philosophy (science) and Christian teaching. By the seventeenth century attempts to establish the unity of understanding start to be subsumed under the unity of science. The Author retraces several unification proposals (mechanism, rational mechanics, chemistry, and life sciences, among others) developed from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, showing how each of these tried to respond to different kinds of goals and problems. He elaborates on which resources and strategies they deployed and on the obstacles and limits they faced.

Keywords:History of modern philosophy and science, unification of understanding, unity of science, foundations of science, mechanism, life sciences.

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Stephen Gaukroger, The Unity of Science and the Search for a Unity of Understanding in the Modern Era in "RIVISTA DI STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA" 4/2017, pp 553-573, DOI: 10.3280/SF2017-004002