Sci&Tech History

In Mathematical vs Experimental Traditions, Thomas Kuhn points out that practitioners of Baconian and classical traditions can be found on the Continent and in England. England was home to Baconian sciences, while the Continent, especially France was the home of the mathematical sciences. Furthermore, Kuhn showed that the French Academy of Sciences did not have a section of experimental science until 1785, “and it was grouped in the mathematical division(with geometry, astronomy, mechanics).” In fact, there were few experimentalists among the Academy members. Considering “the 18^th century as a whole, the contributions of academicians to the Baconian physical science were minor compared with those of doctors, phamacists, industrialists, instrument makers, itinerant lectures, and men of independent means.” In England the situation was reverse, which is to say that the Royal Society was composed chiefly of amateurs, “men whose careers were first and foremost in science.” In addition, Newton’s apparent participation in both traditions (in the classical via the Principia, and in the experimental via his Optiks) was unique. Kuhn suggests that the readers of the Optiks found a “non-Baconian use of experiment,” which was “a product of Newton’s deep and simultaneous immersion the classical scholastic tradition.”

Credit: Toby E. Huff. 1995. The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and The Wets, Cambridge University Press.

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