Renaissance and Revolution: Humanists, Scholars, Craftsmen and Natural Philosophers in Early Modern Europe ed. by J. V. Field, Frank A. J. L. James

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 723 changes in one such function of a technology almost always produce unintentional changes in the other two (and in other technologies as well). Schiffer wants to unify the behavioral sciences, studying arti­ facts in society and vice versa. Most T&C readers will find the general thrust of Schiffer’s theory congenial, if unsurprising, and reminiscent of much recent work in the social and cultural history of technology (e.g., that of Thomas Hughes and Trevor Pinch). But Schiffer’s rather positivistic search for the “nomothetic laws” of behavior and his tiring lists of technical terms would appear to have little cash value—especially for histori­ ans. This is true even for Schiffer himself. The book’s historical chap­ ters rarely appeal to his elaborate theoretical frame, and his fine con­ clusion employs them only as heuristics. Paul N. Edwards Dr. Edwards is acting assistant professor in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at Stanford University. He formerly taught in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University. His book, The Closed World: Computers and the Politics ofDiscourse in Cold War America, is published by MIT Press. Renaissance and Revolution: Humanists, Scholars, Craftsmen and Natural Philosophers in Early Modern Europe. Edited by J. V. Field and Frank A. J. L. James. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Pp. xvi + 291; illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $49.95. This collection originated in a 1990 meeting of the British Society for the History of Science on the “scientific revolution,” convened in honor of A. Rupert Hall. Although the title of the volume brackets two disputed historiographic territories (the Renaissance and the sci­ entific revolution), most of the fifteen papers are local studies that eschew broadly based discussions of historical change. The work be­ gins with a useful introduction by the editors and includes a study of the 16th-century Italian physician Leonardo Fioravanti (by William Eamon); a discussion of the place of medicine and natural history in the 17th century and in the history of science (by Harold J. Cook); an interpretive essay concerning Robert Boyle’s “dysfunctionalism” (by Michael Hunter); an article on “clandestine” Stoic concepts in mechanical philosophy (by Gad Freudenthal); four papers devoted to aspects of Isaac Newton’s thought and influence (by Karin Figala and Ulrich Petzold, R. W. Home, Roberto de A. Martins, and Paolo Casini); an article concerning the mechanical/philosophical interests and patronage of the 18th-century pope Benedict XIV (by Giorgio Dragoni); and a “retrospection” on the scientific revolution by A. Rupert Hall himself. Since, unfortunately, a brief review cannot as­ sess each contribution, the following concerns papers (not mentioned above) that will be of particular interest to historians of technology. Although Vivian Nutton’s “Greek Science in the Sixteenth-Century 724 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Renaissance” mainly concerns medical texts, it provides a useful model for studying the reception of classical learning in early modern Europe regardless of the specific subject matter. Nutton argues that it is insufficient merely to allude to the general influence of ancient texts. For Greek medical texts, he develops a more nuanced model: first, there was a preprinting stage when accurate Greek versions, terminology, and humanist Latin translations were of paramount im­ portance; second, a printing stage that presupposed a market for Greek editions and Latin translations; finally, an assimilation stage in which the substance of the material was evaluated for its use in prac­ tice, whereas the texts themselves were marginalized and given over to antiquarians rather than practicing physicians. Nutton’s highly use­ ful discussion about stages of reception might be considered profit­ ably with regard to many ancient texts, including those devoted to engineering and military matters. Richard S. Westfall, in “Science and Technology during the Scien­ tific Revolution: An Empirical Approach,” discusses the technological involvement of “scientists” who were born sometime between the 1470s and 1680 and who are listed in the Dictionary ofScientific Biogra­ phy. He defines “technology” very broadly to include projects of prac­ tical utility including medical practice. He concludes that there was more tecfinological involvement on the part of “scientists” than has been previously admitted and that the view that “the Scientific Revo...