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 Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his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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... passions,'' which they considered to be the forces that created change, not only in minds but in bodies, and not only in individual persons but in all things. I can only hope that the results produced from this mixed set of historical ...
... passions and interests of mind and body united. And by examining how natural knowledge was changed in one place we can glimpse the larger canvas on 1 which the human experience of our own age still exhibits. Worldly. Goods. and. the.
... passions; some examples of how others, such as the brothers De la Court and Spinoza, drew on Descartes's work for their own analyses of politics and ethics illustrates some of the consequences of such studies in the most fraught ...
... passions had helped to foster long-distance commerce for many centuries. When the Portuguese first arrived in ''India,'' then, they entered a region where long-established trade routes flowed, not only to Europe, but by sea from East ...
... passions were movements arising from body as well as mind, expressions of life united rather than divided, powers ... passions as we are'').12 The passions could even be taken to be the forces behind all natural actions: Sir Francis ...
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 |