Revolutionizing the sciences: European knowledge and its ambitions, 1500-1700

Introduction: Philosophy and Operationalism - What Was Worth Knowing in 1500 - Humanism and Ancient Wisdom: How to Learn Things in the Sixteenth Century - The Scholar and the Craftsman: Paracelsus, Gilbert, Bacon - Mathematics Challenges Philosophy: Galileo Versus the Schoolmen - Mechanism: Descartes Builds a Universe - Courting Philosophy: New Homes for Natural Knowledge - Experiment: How to Learn Things in the Seventeenth Century - Cartesians and Newtonians - Conclusion: What Was Worth Knowing in 1727 - Bibliography - Index