This four-volume collection of primary sources examines scientific methodology in Britain during the long nineteenth century. As the physical, biological, human, and social sciences were radically reshaped across the 1800's, so the prevailing understanding of scientific methodology changed with them, making this period one of the most significant in the early development of the philosophy of science in the English-speaking world. This development was driven not only by the reflections of numerous men of science, scattered across their works, but also by the publication of some of the first major treatises in the philosophy of science. These volumes form a valuable complement instruction and learning in nineteenth-century philosophy and the history of science. An understanding of the philosophical and methodological innovations that grounded these epoch-making developments in the sciences is crucial for helping us understand how several generations of scientists interpreted and hoped to justify their own work. These same questions would go on to form a significant part of the foundation for reflection on such issues across the twentieth century and today.
This four-volume collection of primary sources examines scientific methodology in Britain during the long nineteenth century. These volumes form a valuable complement instruction and learning in nineteenth-century philosophy and the history of science.
Volume 1: Building Philosophical Systems
General Introduction
Volume 1 Introduction
Part 1: Setting the Stage
1. Isaac Newton, Scholium, from Principia Mathematica, tr. Andrew Motte
(1803 [ 1726, 1729 tr.]), pp. 1:61:14
2.Isaac Newton, Queries, from Opticks (1730)
3. Émilie Du Châtelet, Of Hypothesis, from Foundations of Physics, tr.
Isabelle Bour and Judith P. Zinsser (1740, tr. 2009), pp. 147155
4. Immanuel Kant, Preface from Prolegomena and Metaphysical Foundations of
Natural Science, tr. Ernest Belfort Bax (1883 [ 1786]), pp. 137149
5. Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (1786), pp.
1:331:52
6. Mary Shepherd, Essay Upon the Relation of Cause and Effect (1824), pp.
4063
Part 2: Sir John F. W. Herschels Preliminary Discourse
7. John F. W. Herschel, Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural
Philosophy, 2nd ed. (1851),
Chapter I, pp. 1317;
Chapter V, pp. 135138;
Chapter VI, pp. 144175;
Chapter VII, pp. 190200
8. William Whewell, [ Review of] A Preliminary Discourse on the Study of
Natural Philosophy, The Quarterly Review, Vol. 45, No. 90 (1831), pp.
374391, 398402
Part 3: William Whewells History and Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences
9. William Whewell, Of the Establishment of the Principles of Dynamics, and
Of Certain Characteristics of Scientific Induction, from The Philosophy of
the Inductive Sciences, Founded Upon Their History, 2 vols., 2nd ed. (1847),
pp. 1:2151:227, 2:462:74
Part 4: John Stuart Mills System of Logic
10. John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic (1843), Of Observation and
Experiment and Of the Four Methods of Experimental Enquiry, pp.
1:4371:479 and from Of Demonstration, and Necessary Truths and The Same
Subject Continued, pp. 1:296300, 1:311323, 1:328330
Part 5: Positivism
11. Auguste Comte, The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte, tr. Harriet
Martineau (1853 [ 1830]), pp. 2538
12. Ernst Mach, Introductory Remarks: Antimetaphysical, from The Analysis
of Sensations, 1st ed., tr. C. M. Williams (1897), pp. 126
13. Karl Pearson, The Grammar of Science, 1st ed., (1892), pp. 92104,
116121
Bibliography
Index
Volume 2: Deep Time: Geology and Evolution
General Introduction
Volume 2 Introduction
Part 1: The Continental Traditions
1. Georges Cuvier, View of the Relations Which Exist Amongst the Variations
of the Several Organs, from Lectures on Comparative Anatomy (1802 [ 1800]),
pp. 4661
2. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Zoological Philosophy¸ tr. Hugh Elliott (1809, tr.
1914), pp. 1921, 3539, 5661, 112114, 126127
3. Richard Owen, Report on the Archetype and Homologies of the Vertebrate
Skeleton, Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science,
Vol. 16 (1846), pp. 169170, 173176, 248251, 339340
Part 2: Uniformity and Catastrophe in Geology
4. John Playfair, Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth (1802),
pp. 510528
5. William Buckland, Volcanic Rocks, Basalt and Trap and Primary
Stratified Rocks, from Geology and Mineralogy Considered with Reference to
Natural Theology (1836), pp. 4456
6. Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology, Vol. 1 (1830), pp. 7591
7. Adam Sedgwick, Address to the Geological Society, Delivered on the
Evening of the 18th of February 1831, by the Rev. Professor Sedgwick, M.A.
F.R.S. &c. On Retiring from the Presidents Chair, The Philosophical
Magazine, Vol. 9, pp. 298308, 312317
Part 3: The History of Life
8. William Buckland, Geology and Mineralogy Considered with Reference to
Natural Theology (1836), pp. 538552
9. Robert Chambers, Hypothesis of the Development of the Vegetable and
Animal Kingdom, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation 4th ed., (1845),
pp. 195216
10. Adam Sedgwick, [ Review of] Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation,
The Edinburgh Review, Vol. 82 (1845), pp. 110
11. Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species (excerpts), (1859), pp. 714,
3443, 8096, 111130, 279302, 329336
12. Alfred Russel Wallace, Darwinism (1889), pp. 445446, 461478
Part 4: After Darwin: Responding to the Origin
13. Fleeming Jenkin, [ Review of] The Origin of Species, North British
Review, Vol. 46 (June 1867), pp. 277286, 317318
14. Adam Sedgwick, Objections to Mr. Darwins Theory of the Origin of
Species, The Spectator, Vol. 33 (1860), pp. 285286
15. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Sex and Evolution, The Sexes Throughout
Nature (1875), pp. 1123
16. St. George Jackson Mivart, On the Genesis of Species, 2nd ed. (1871), pp.
290302
Bibliography
Index
Volume 3: Quantifying Life: Statistical, Social, and Human Sciences
General Introduction
Volume 3 Introduction
Part 1: Statistical Methodology
1. Adolphe Quetelet, On Man, A Treatise on Man and the Development of His
Faculties (1835 [ tr. 1842]), pp. 59
2. William Jevons, The Principles of Science (1877), 2nd ed., pp. viixii,
265269, 551553
Part 2: Statistics in Biology
3. Francis Galton, Natural Inheritance (1889), pp. 6370, 192198
4. Karl Pearson, The Grammar of Science, 2nd ed. (1900), pp. 372375,
402408
5. William Bateson, Heredity, Differentiation, and Other Conceptions of
Biology: A Consideration of Professor Karl Pearsons Paper On the Principle
of Homotyposis, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 69 (1901),
pp. 193205
Part 3: The Social Sciences
6. Herbert Spencer, Principles of Sociology, Vol. I, 3rd ed. (1887 [ 1876]),
pp. 323, 3439
7. Agnes Sinclair Holbrook, Map Notes and Comments, in Jane Addams and
Residents of Hull House, Hull-House Maps and Papers (1895), pp. 314
8. W. E. B. Du Bois, The Study of the Negro Problems, Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 11 (1898), pp. 123
9. Ida B. Wells-Barnett, A Red Record (1895), pp. 715
Part 4: Physiology and Perception
10. Hermann von Helmholtz, The Facts in Perception, in Hermann von
Helmholtz, Epistemological Writings, trans. Paul Hertz and Moritz Schlick
(1878 [ tr. 1921]), pp. 117146
11. Ernst Mach, On Physiological as Distinguished from Geometrical Space,
The Monist, Vol. 11, No. 3 (1901), pp. 321338
Part 5: Method in Psychology
12.Herbert Spencer, Life and Mind as Correspondence and The Correspondence
as Increasing in Generality, The Principles of Psychology, 2nd ed. (1873),
pp. 291294, 350369
13. William James, Lecture 1, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902),
pp. 125
14. J. M. Cattell, Mental Tests and Measurements, Mind, Vol. 15, No. 59
(1890), pp. 373381
15. E. B. Titchener, Experimental Psychology: A Manual of Laboratory Practice
(1901), Vol. 1, pp. xiiixviii, Vol. 2, pp. xixxl
Bibliography
Index
Volume 4: Forces, Fields, and Energy: Physical Sciences
General Introduction
Volume 4 Introduction
Part 1: Atoms, Molecules and Forces
1. John Dalton, On the Constitution of Bodies and On Chemical Synthesis
(1808), from Foundations of the Atomic Theory (1893), pp. 2734
2. John Dalton, Remarks on the Essay of Dr. Berzelius on the Cause of
Chemical Proportions, Annals of Philosophy, Vol. 3 (1814), pp. 174180
3. Jacob Berzelius, An Address to Those Chemists Who Wish to Examine the
Laws of Chemical Proportions, and the Theory of Chemistry in General, Annals
of Philosophy, Vol. 10 (1815), pp. 122131
4. Michael Faraday, Identity of Electricities Derived from Different
Sources, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Vol. 123 (1833),
pp. 2330, 4353
5. Michael Faraday, A Speculation Touching Electric Conduction and the
Nature of Matter, Philosophical Magazine, Vol. 24 (1844), pp. 136144
6. Herman von Helmholtz, On the Aim and Progress of Physical Science, in
Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects (1869 [ tr. 1885]), pp. 369375,
382394
7. James Clerk Maxwell, On Physical Lines of Force, Philosophical Magazine,
Vol. 21, No. 139 (1861), pp. 161165
8. James Clerk Maxwell, Molecules, Nature, Vol. 8 (1873), pp. 437441
Part 2: Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
9. Sadi Carnot, Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat and on Engines
Suitable for Developing this Power, The Second Law of Thermodynamics:
Memoirs by Carnot, Clausius, and Thomson (1824 [ tr. 1899]), pp. 321
10. James Joule, On Matter, Living Force, and Heat, in The Scientific
Papers of James Prescott Joule, (1847), pp. 265276
11. Rudolf Clausius, On the Moving Force of Heat, in The Mechanical Theory
of Heat, with its Applications to the Steam-Engine and to the Physical
Properties of Bodies (1850 [ tr. 1867]), pp. 1421,
4345.
12. William Thomson, Kinetic Theory of the Dissipation of Energy, Nature,
Vol. 9 (1874), pp. 441444
Part 3: Models and Reality
13. Heinrich Hertz, Principles of Mechanics (1894 [ tr. 1899]), pp. 14,
2441
14. Ludwig Boltzmann, On the Necessity of Atomic Theories in Physics, The
Monist, Vol. 12, No. 1 (1901), pp. 6579
15. Ludwig Boltzmann, Models, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 10th ed., Vol. 30
(1902), pp. 788791
Part 4: Time and Space
16. Mary Somerville, Mechanism of the Heavens (1831), pp. vxv, 46, 145151
17. Ernst Mach, The Science of Mechanics (1883[ tr. 1919]), pp. 222245
18. Albert Einstein, Maxwells Influence on the Development of the
Conception of Physical Reality, in James Clerk Maxwell: A Commemoration
Volume, 18311931 (1931), pp. 6673
Bibliography
Index
Dr. Charles H. Pence is Assistant Professor and Director of the Center for the Philosophy of Science and Society (CEFISES) at the Université catholique de Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
