(2007-01-26) Levin Shapin Airpump

Adina Levin on Stephen Shapin's Leviathan and the Airpump about the debates during the birth of the Scientific Method. Robert Boyle vs Thomas Hobbes. The insight I found most interesting is the way the book shows how arguments in defense of alternative scientific methods were not only about how to prove knowledge, but about how to organize society (Society Design). Both sides were anxious about maintaining civil order in the aftermath of the English Civil War, and promoted their respective methods as processes for reaching agreement peaceably. Hobbes' focused on creating geometric-style proofs that are so airtight that dispute is impossible. Boyle focused on removing philosophic discourse from the contentious topics of politics and religion, and allowing free argument on agreed facts.