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 Harold J. Cook scrutinizes a wealth of historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia during this era, and his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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... position in their own worlds, the matters they valued most, whether material goods, social manners, cultural symbols, or intellectual pursuits, also came to dominate the lives of other people. The culture of the exchange economy was not ...
... positions in their households to students of antiquity who could explain and interpret these things.32 At the height of the Renaissance in Italy, the erudite Leon Battista Alberti argued that possessions, including impressive buildings ...
... position of lord chancellor of England, and fed up with both the ''unfruitful'' philosophy of the schools and thoughtless empiricism, he advocated a middle and generative way, which he called the way of the bee. The bee ''gathers its ...
... position against depredations from the sultan of Ternate. During the sixteenth century, the island had seen large-scale planting of cloves, which local growers traded for rice, textiles, musical instruments, gold and silver jewelry, and ...
... position, he would of course wish to praise learning. Barlaeus could also take it for granted that the search for wisdom was considered important for any magistrate. It was already enough of a commonplace that Cornelis Pietersz. Hooft ...
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 |