Meteorological phenomena have intrigued scientists for millennia, a fascination not likely to abate in this age of satellites and supercomputer-generated weather simulations. Craig Martin takes a careful look at how Renaissance scientists analyzed and interpreted rain, wind, meteors, earthquakes, and other weather and its impact on the great thinkers of the scientific revolution.Martin argues that meteorology was crucial to the transformation that took place in science during the early modern period. By examining the conceptual foundations of the subject, Martin links Aristotelian meteorology with the new natural philosophies of the seventeenth century. He argues that because meteorology involved conjecture and observation and forced attention to material and efficient causation, it paralleled developments in the natural philosophies of Descartes and other key figures of the scientific revolution. Although an inherently uncertain endeavor, forecasting the weather was an extremely useful component not just of scientific study, but also of politics, courtly life, and religious doctrine. Martin explores how natural philosophers of the time participated in political and religious controversies by debating the meanings, causes, and purposes of natural disasters and other weather phenomena. Through careful readings of an impressive range of texts, Martin situates the history of meteorology within the larger context of Renaissance and early modern science. The first study on Renaissance theories of weather in five decades, Renaissance Meteorology offers a novel understanding of traditional natural philosophy and its impact on the development of modern science.
Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The Epistemology of Meteorology 2. Teleology in Renaissance Meteorology 3. The Ferrarese Earthquakes and the Employment of Learned Meteorology 4. The Chymistry of Weather 5. Niccolò Cabeo's Meteorology as the Basis for a New Aristotelianism 6. Causation and Method in Cartesian Meteorology Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index
""This fascinating subject has hitherto received little attention and Martin's book makes a valuable contribution to filling this gap... In this volume Martin fully achieves his stated aim of using meteorology to positively reassess the creativity and historical significance of Renaissance Aristotelianism, and the book is certainly of great interest for historians of philosophy.""
