Includes bibliographical references and index. New Book -- June -- 2015
Contents:
1: Approaching Galileo's science through a fable -- 2: Subtleties of vision and of the scientific revolution -- 3: Casting light on Galileo's contrasts -- 4: The Lunar candour and the Litheosphorus -- 5: Sensory surprises -- 6: Seeing mountains on the moon -- 7: Visible and invisible luminous peaks of lunar mountains -- 8: Visual limits and the visibility of infinitesimals -- 9: Heavens sensed -- 10: Galileo's sensory philosophy -- 11: The problem of Galileo's predecessors -- 12: A moon circle: celestial reflections and illusions with Sarpi, Galileo and Castelli -- 13: Alternative visions -- 14: Galileo's visions.
Summary:
"In a fascinating and accessible style, Marco Piccolino and Nick Wade analyse the scientific and philosophical work of Galileo Galilei from the particular viewpoint of his approach to the senses (and especially vision) as a means of acquiring trustworthy knowledge about the constitution of the world. For Galileo evidence from the senses was potentially ambiguous, hence reliable information capable of penetrating the complexity of reality could only be obtained by interpreting the sensory data critically. The philosophical background of Galileo's attitude to the senses was his awareness that nature had not developed a specific language aimed at communicating with senses generally and human senses in particular. Galileo's analysis of the senses corresponded closely to a fundamental tenet of modern sensory physiology and psychophysics - the absence in the world of specific sensory signals like sounds, colours, tastes, and odours."--Publisher's description.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.