McLeish, Tom orcid.org/0000-0002-2025-0299 (2020) A meta-metaphor for science:the true and the fictional within the book of nature. Interdisciplinary science reviews. pp. 406-415. ISSN 0308-0188
Abstract
Evelyn Fox-Keller is unsurpassed in the perspicuity with which she has analysed the power of metaphor within science, to the way it defines scientific discourse, and in developing methodologies that address semantic ambiguity. This paper considers a great metaphor for science itself. The ‘Book of Nature’ idea is at least as old as Augustine, and enjoyed strong advocacy in other ages from Hugh of St. Victor, Boyle and Galileo, to name a few. Yet it is not without its dangers. The significance of ‘books’ changes with their availability, the language they are written in, the communities who are educated to read them, and their hermeneutic context. I will suggest ways that science has been construed differently following these changes in the metaphor’s meaning, including a suggestion that part of the early modern shift is from pure ‘reading’ of the Book of Nature, to writing it.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details. |
Keywords: | Book of Nature metaphor,Boyle,Theology of science,Wisdom |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > York Institute for Materials Research The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Physics (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 11 Nov 2020 12:50 |
Last Modified: | 16 Oct 2024 17:04 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/03080188.2020.1794386 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/03080188.2020.1794386 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:167884 |