Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I The Canon in Question
- Part II Canonical Disciplines Re-Formed
- Part III Canonical Figures Reconsidered
- 9 Pursuing Knowledge: Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton
- 10 The Alchemies of Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton: Alternate Approaches and Divergent Deployments
- 11 The Janus Faces of Science in the Seventeenth Century: Athanasius Kircher and Isaac Newton
- 12 The Nature of Newton's “Holy Alliance” between Science and Religion: From the Scientific Revolution to Newton (and Back Again)
- 13 The Fate of the Date: The Theology of Newton's Principia Revisited
- 14 Newton and Spinoza and the Bible Scholarship of the Day
- Part IV The Canon Constructed
- Index
10 - The Alchemies of Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton: Alternate Approaches and Divergent Deployments
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I The Canon in Question
- Part II Canonical Disciplines Re-Formed
- Part III Canonical Figures Reconsidered
- 9 Pursuing Knowledge: Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton
- 10 The Alchemies of Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton: Alternate Approaches and Divergent Deployments
- 11 The Janus Faces of Science in the Seventeenth Century: Athanasius Kircher and Isaac Newton
- 12 The Nature of Newton's “Holy Alliance” between Science and Religion: From the Scientific Revolution to Newton (and Back Again)
- 13 The Fate of the Date: The Theology of Newton's Principia Revisited
- 14 Newton and Spinoza and the Bible Scholarship of the Day
- Part IV The Canon Constructed
- Index
Summary
It is clear that at present there is a growing interest in alchemy. This new attention to a subject long dismissed out of hand as a field for serious scholarly inquiry is in large part due to the successful linkage of alchemy with prominent figures of early modern science, especially Sir Isaac Newton. Once the extent of Newton's involvement with traditional alchemy was made manifest by the labors of B. J. T. Dobbs, Karin Figala, Richard S. Westfall, and others, alchemy could no longer be uncomplicatedly rejected as mere fraud or gullibility without impugning Newton himself. Thus, whereas Newton's status as the rationalist par excellence initially made his alchemical involvement seem unbelievable, that status helped to rehabilitate the much-maligned subject of alchemy. Since the revelation of Newton's alchemical interests, other figures of the early modern period have begun to reveal their own alchemical dimensions. Most notable among these is Robert Boyle. Recent studies demonstrate that the “Father of Chemistry” was equally a son of traditional alchemy. Far from repudiating traditional alchemy, as is commonly believed, Boyle pursued it with great avidity. He strove, for example, to discover the secret preparation of the transmutatory Philosophers' Stone, of whose real existence and powers he was certain. Significantly, Boyle's interest in and devotion to alchemy actually increased over the course of his career rather than being repudiated as a youthful whim. These findings in the case of Boyle strongly reaffirm the conclusions regarding the importance of alchemy in the early modern period, which were drawn from earlier investigations of Newton.
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- Rethinking the Scientific Revolution , pp. 201 - 220Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000
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