The World Makers: Scientists of the Restoration and the Search for the Origins of the EarthWhen educated men in the seventeenth century thought about the Earth on which they stood, they might ask themselves the following questions. When was the world created? Why? How? Out of what? Where did people come from? Do we all share the same origin? How were other living things generated? Can species vary at all? What are fossils? The common answers to these questions were rooted in the Bible. The world was made around the year 4000 BC by the direct command of God; people all come from Adam and Eve; species do not vary and fossils are inorganic in origin. Most people assumed that the teachings of theology and of natural philosophy (what we would later term 'science') were both continuous and harmonious. But there were radical new answers to these questions of origin too. This is the story of how the emerging discipline of experimental philosophy reacted to the opening chapters of the book of Genesis to interpret the physical origin, present status, and final destination of the Earth. The Royal Society of London, created in 1660 'for the improving of natural knowledge', was where these bold new answers to old questions were formulated, discussed, contested, and modified, by men such as Isaac Newton, Robert Hooke, Edmond Halley, and Thomas Burnet. |
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The World Makers: Scientists of the Restoration and the Search for the ... William Poole No preview available - 2017 |
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Adam ancient animals argued Aristotelian astronomer atoms Aubrey's Babel Bible biblical criticism biblical exegesis Bodleian Bohun Boyle Cambridge Cartesian chiliastic chronology claimed comet commented Conflagration contemporary Creation decades deluge Descartes discussions early Earth earthquakes Edmond Halley England English Essay experimentalists Flood fossils Francis Francis Lodwick Gassendi Genesis geography globe gravity Hakewill hence Hooke's hypothesis instance intellectual John Aubrey John Keill John Ray John Wilkins Keill later Latin lectures Lister Lodwick London Lucretius magnetic manuscript mathematical mathematician matter Micrographia Millennium miracle modern Moses natural philosopher naturalists Nevertheless Newton Newtonian Noah notion origin Oxford Paracelsian Pepys Peyrère Peyrère's Philosophical Transactions physics Preadamite Principia problem proposed published Rawl reading Robert Boyle Robert Hooke Royal Society Sacred Theory scholar scientific Scripture Septuagint seventeenth century shells species Steno Stillingfleet theologian theological theorists Thomas Burnet tradition translation universe Varenius vicissitude Vossius Whiston William Woodward World Makers Wotton