Science, pseudo-science, and utopianism in early modern thought

About this book

In this important interdisciplinary study, Stephen A. McKnight brings together such prominent scholars as Allen Debus, B.J.T. Dobbs, Klaus Vondung, David Walsh, and Wilbur Applebaum to discuss a major development in cultural, political, and scientific history: a new understanding of the role of magic, alchemy, and other esoteric traditions in the evolution of early modern thought. Twentieth-century historians of science have labeled these traditions "pseudo-science." In the early modern period, however, they were treasured by many philosophers, theologians, and scientists as the prisca theologia, revelations by God to the great wise men of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean, including Hermes Trismegistus, Zoroaster, Moses, Pythogoras?sic?, and Plato. Recent research has shown that these materials were earnestly studied by Ficino, Pico, Agrippa, Bruno, Campanella, and Bacon. Even the great patriarch of the Scientific Revolution, Isaac Newton, employed alchemical and theological elements in his work. Science, Pseudo-Science, and Utopianism in Early Modern Thought shows that "pseudo-science," especially magic and alchemy, was a crucial part of the theories and experiments that produced the scientific advances of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In addition, it shows that these traditions have a strong utopian component, depicting man as a "terrestrial god" capable of mastering nature and perfecting society. In the early modern period, this utopian theme became intertwined with the enthusiasm for scientific progress to produce the distinctly modern dream of social perfection through science. Scholars and students of history, philosophy, political science, and theology will find this a provocative addition to our understanding of the modern world.