Matters of Exchange: Commerce, Medicine, and Science in the Dutch Golden AgeA new and unexpected history of the Dutch pursuit of commerce in the 16th and 17th centuries and how it triggered the Scientific Revolution In this wide-ranging and stimulating book, a leading authority on the history of medicine and science presents convincing evidence that Dutch commerce—not religion—inspired the rise of science in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his conclusions are fresh and exciting. He uncovers direct links between the rise of trade and commerce in the Dutch Empire and the flourishing of scientific investigation. Cook argues that engaging in commerce changed the thinking of Dutch citizens, leading to a new emphasis on such values as objectivity, accumulation, and description. The preference for accurate information that accompanied the rise of commerce also laid the groundwork for the rise of science globally, wherever the Dutch engaged in trade. Medicine and natural history were fundamental aspects of this new science, as reflected in the development of gardens for both pleasure and botanical study, anatomical theaters, curiosity cabinets, and richly illustrated books about nature. Sweeping in scope and original in its insights, this book revises previous understandings of the history of science and ideas. |
From inside the book
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... thoughts, I have had the chance to get the advice and criticism of different academic audiences, to whom I extend my thanks; some of these lectures became published articles: I therefore also thank the editors, publishers, Preface xiii.
... But it does not assume that discovery is self-evident. More importantly, its underlying theme is that the search for wisdom became a search for knowledge, or rather the Worldly Goods and the Transformations of Objectivity 5.
... became a search for knowledge, or rather the kind of wisdom rooted in understanding why nature is as it is became subordinate to the kind of wisdom rooted in understanding how natural things are. To put it more technically, proponents ...
... became famed for the quantity and quality of the cloth and tapestries made there from wool imported from Spain and the British Isles. By a variety of means, then, it became one of the most heavily populated regions of Europe, a region ...
... became plentiful in Europe, being used not only as a medicine and taken as a sweet but as a substance that could be molded into all kinds of shapes, like clay. At the marriage of Alexander Farnese and Princess Maria of Portugal ...
Contents
1 | |
42 | |
82 | |
Four Commerce and Medicine in Amsterdam | 133 |
Five Truths and Untruths from the Indies | 175 |
Descartes in the Republic | 226 |
Seven Industry and Analysis | 267 |
Eight Gardens of the Indies Transported | 304 |
The Medicine of East Asia | 339 |
Sticking to Simple Things | 378 |
Eleven Conclusions and Comparisons | 410 |
Notes | 417 |
Bibliography | 473 |
Index | 537 |
Other editions - View all
Matters of Exchange: Commerce, Medicine, and Science in the Dutch Golden Age Harold John Cook No preview available - 2007 |