Experience and Experiment in the Rise of Modern Science
{'Code': '08080301', 'Directorate': {'LongName': 'Direct For Biological Sciences'}, 'Division': {'LongName': 'Div Of Biological Infrastructure'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Ronald J. Overmann'}
Ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Chinese, Arabs, and                     Indians (both Asian and American) were great observers of nature.               Fantastic models of the world and the way it acts were built upon               these "scientists'" active observations and experiences of                      nature.  Modern science certainly includes observation and                      experience of nature, but what critically distinguishes modern                  science from pre-modern "science" is the experimental method,                   i.e. the active "testing" of nature to try to elucidate its                     secrets.  Rather than being a more or less passive observer and                 thinker about nature, the modern scientist plays an active role                 in manipulating nature in order to force out answers to the                     scientist's questions.  This transformation from "experience" to                experiment in science occurred in the great Scientific Revolution               of the 16th and 17th centuries.  In this project, Dr. Dear is                   trying to obtain a better understanding of the origins of modern                experimental science in the latter half of the 17th century.                                                                                                    Experimentalism as a socially and intellectually legitimated form               of acquiring knowledge of nature emerged through a subversion of                and conflict with the previously dominant intellectual practices                of Aristotelian natural philosophy and mathematical science.                    However, the nature of that subversion and conflict and the                     nature of those prior intellectual practices as they bear on the                "experimental philosophy" that became established in the second                 half of the century, are little understood.  A close examination                of those presuppositions and prerequisites relating to the use of               experimental statements which are found in the accredited                       orthodox natural philosophy of European colleges and universities               of the period, and a tracing of the differing intellectual and                  practical trajectories found in various distinct disciplinary                   traditions, will provide the correct context within which to                    understand the meaning of "experiment" as it was developed by the               major figures of the Scientific Revolution.
{'FirstName': 'Peter', 'LastName': 'Dear', 'EmailAddress': 'prd3@cornell.edu', 'StartDate': '01/01/1990', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'Cornell University', 'CityName': 'Ithaca', 'ZipCode': '148502820', 'PhoneNumber': '6072555014', 'StreetAddress': '373 Pine Tree Road', 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'New York', 'StateCode': 'NY'}
{'Code': '1353', 'Text': 'Hist & Philosophy of SET'}
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