{"product_id":"the-edge-of-objectivity-an-essay-in-the-history-of-scientific-ideas-9780691172521","title":"The Edge of Objectivity: An Essay in the History of Scientific Ideas","description":"\u003cp\u003eOriginally published in 1960, \u003ci\u003e The Edge of Objectivity\u003c\/i\u003e helped to establish the history of science as a full-fledged academic discipline. In the mid-1950s, a young professor at Princeton named Charles Gillispie began teaching Humanities 304, one of the first undergraduate courses offered anywhere in the world on the history of science. From Galileo's analysis of motion to theories of evolution and relativity, Gillispie introduces key concepts, individuals, and themes. \u003ci\u003eThe Edge of Objectivity\u003c\/i\u003e arose out of this course. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e It must have been a lively class. \u003ci\u003eThe Edge of Objectivity\u003c\/i\u003e is pointed, opinionated, and selective. Even at six hundred pages, the book is, as the title suggests, an essay. Gillispie is unafraid to rate Mendel higher than Darwin, Maxwell above Faraday. Full of wry turns of phrase, the book effectively captures people and places. And throughout the book, Gillispie pushes an argument. He views science as the progressive development of more objective, detached, mathematical ways of viewing the world, and he orchestrates his characters and ideas around this theme. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This edition of Charles Coulston Gillispie's landmark book introduces a new generation of readers to his provocative and enlightening account of the advancement of scientific thought over the course of four centuries. Since the original publication of \u003ci\u003eThe Edge of Objectivity\u003c\/i\u003e, historians of science have focused increasingly on the social context of science rather than its internal dynamics, and they have frequently viewed science more as a threatening instance of power than as an accumulation of knowledge. Nevertheless, Gillispie's book remains a sophisticated, fast-moving, idiosyncratic account of the development of scientific ideas over four hundred years, by one of the founding intellects in the history of science. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFeaturing a new foreword by Theodore Porter, who places the work in its intellectual context and the development of the field, this edition of \u003ci\u003eThe Edge of Objectivity\u003c\/i\u003e is a monumental work by one of the founding intellects of the history of science.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCharles Coulston Gillispie \u003c\/b\u003e(1918-2015) was Dayton-Stockton Professor Emeritus of History of Science at Princeton University. \u003cb\u003eTheodore M. Porter\u003c\/b\u003e is Distinguished Professor of History and the Peter Reill Chair in European History at the University of California, Los Angeles.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Princeton University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50327238672658,"sku":"9780691172521","price":36.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_21692bf8-5a7f-4969-9a63-0be784facb38.jpg?v=1727711678","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-edge-of-objectivity-an-essay-in-the-history-of-scientific-ideas-9780691172521","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}