BRILL

Philosophies of technology; Francis Bacon and his contemporaries; 2v.

First presented at a conference held in Frankfurt, Germany in July 2006, the 17 papers of this 2-volume work offer a fascinating array of topics all relating to the impact of Francis Bacon on how philosophy turned to acknowledge and adopt the thinking of science. Written by European academics who specialize in the history of science, art history, philosophy, literature, and physics, among other specialties, the papers maintain a close focus on manners of thought with regard to technology, expanding on the context in which discoveries were made and experiments were performed. Individual paper topics include the weatherglass, the role of mechanics in Bacon's Great instauration, the symbolic use of musical instruments in 17th-century natural history, and scientific imagery in the reign of Louis XIV. Two papers are on Descartes. Each paper features extensive quotes from primary sources and ends with a selected bibliography. There is a name, but no subject index. There are four editors: Zittel (U. of Frankfurt, Germany); Gisela Engel (Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt); Nicole C. Karafyllis (philosophy, United Arab Emirates U.); and Romano Nanni (Biblioteca Leonardiana & Museo Leonardiano in Vinci, in Florence, Italy). (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)