Religion, Magic, and the Origins of Science in Early Modern England

John Henry

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351219280
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Science History
• Index: History

In these articles John Henry argues on the one hand for the intimate relationship between religion and early modern attempts to develop new understandings of nature, and on the other hand for the role of occult concepts in early modern natural philosophy. Focussing on the scene in England, the articles provide detailed examinations of the religious motivations behind Roman Catholic efforts to develop a new mechanical philosophy, theories of the soul and immaterial spirits, and theories of active matter. There are also important studies of animism in the beginnings of experimentalism, the role of occult qualities in the mechanical philosophy, and a new account of the decline of magic. As well as general surveys, the collection includes in depth studies of William Gilbert, Sir Kenelm Digby, Henry More, Francis Glisson, Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, and Isaac Newton.

INDEX

action at a distance, III 336, 359–60; VIII 163, 175; IX 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 135, 136, 137, 141, 142, 143; X 5, 35

active principles, III 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 344, 346–7, 352, 353, 354, 355–6, 357, 358–9, 363, 366; V 91; VIII 150, 151, 154, 155, 156, 158, 166, 172, 178; IX 131, 134, 135

Adam and Eve, VI 67; X 24, 29, 30

aether, the, III 348; IV 26, 38; VII 124, 128; VIII 157–8, 159, 160, 162, 179; IX 123, 124, 125, 135, 137; X 5

air, III 344, 347, 348, 350, 364; IV 34; VII 120, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 134; VIII 149

Agrippa, Cornelius, VIII 171, 173; X 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 33

Albertus Magnus, X 12, 32

alchemy, I 115, 116; III 337, 339, 343, 346, 360, 363, 368; VII 125; VIII 178; IX 123; X 4, 7, 11, 13, 18, 21–2, 28, 31, 32, 34

Al-Kindi, VII 130; X 12, 32

amulets, X 23

Anglicanism, II 215, 216, 218, 221, 222, 225, 237; VI 55, 56, 58

animism, I 116, 117, 119; VIII 171

Anne, Lady Conway, IV 28–9; V 90

apocalypticism, II 219, 220, 234, 235, 236

Aristotelianism, I 106, 116; II 213, 214, 215, 224, 233; III 335, 352, 362;...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• I Animism and empiricism: Copernican physics and the origins of William Gilbert’s experimental method
• II Atomism and eschatology: Catholicism and natural philosophy in the Interregnum
• III Occult qualities and the experimental philosophy: active principles in pre-Newtonian matter theory
• IV Medicine and pneumatology: Henry More, Richard Baxter and Francis Glisson’s Treatise on the Energetic
• V The matter of souls: medical theory and theology in seventeenth-century England
• VI Henry More versus Robert Boyle: the Spirit of Nature and the nature of Providence
• VII Boyle and cosmical qualities
• VIII Robert Hooke, the incongruous mechanist
• IX ‘Pray do not ascribe that notion to me’: God and Newton’s gravity
• X The fragmentation of Renaissance occultism and the decline of magic
• Index