Science and Beliefs

Professor David M. Knight is at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Durham, UK. Matthew D. Eddy is Lecturer in the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Durham, UK.

• Contents: Introduction: Science and beliefs, David M. Knight. Part I Beliefs Within Science: The metaphysics of science in the Romantic era, Barry Gower; Rearranging 17th-century natural history into natural philosophy: 18th-century editions of Boyle's works, Harriet Knight; Boundary work: 'national quarrels and party factions' in 18th-century British botany, Susan McMahon; Sociability, utility and curiosity in the Spalding Gentlemen's Society, 1710-60, Michael Honeybone; Set in stone: medicine and the vocabulary of the earth in 18th-century Scotland, Matthew D. Eddy; Scientific servicemen in the Royal Navy and the professionalisation of science, 1816-55, Randolph Cock; Expertise and Christianity: high standards versus the free market in popular publishing, Aileen Fyfe. Part II Beliefs Underlying Science: Darwinian 'becoming' and early 19th-century historiography: the cases of Jules Michelet and Thomas Carlyle, Richard Somerset; Charles Darwin: a Christian undermining Christianity?, Momme von Sydow; Michael Faraday meets the 'high-priestess of God's works': a romance on the theme of science and religion, Geoffrey Cantor; An 'open clash between Science and the Church'?: Wilberforce, Huxley and Hooker on Darwin at the British Association, Oxford, 1860, Frank A.J.L. James; The invention of altruism: August Comte's Positive Polity and respectable unbelief in Victorian Britain, Thomas Dixon; The radiometer and its lessons: William Carpenter versus William Crookes, William H. Brock; From science to the popularisation of science: the career of J. Arthur Thomson, Peter J. Bowler. Conclusion: concluding reflections, John H. Brooke. Index.

’As a whole, this collection of essays gives interesting insight into the current state of studies in 'Science and Religion'.’ Nuncius ’It was a pleasure to read this book.’ Ambix