Robert Boyle and the Limits of Reason [Hardcover]

A study of Boyle's epistemology, revealing the theological context of his views on reason's limits.In this study of Robert Boyle's epistemology, Jan W. Wojcik reveals the theological context within which Boyle developed his views on reason's limits. After arguing that a correct interpretation of his views on things above reason depends upon reading his works in the context of theological controversies in seventeenth-century England, Professor Wojcik details exactly how Boyle's three specific categories of things which transcend reasonothe incomprehensible, the inexplicable, and the unsociableoaffected his conception of what a natural philosopher could hope to know.In this study of Robert Boyle's epistemology, Jan W. Wojcik reveals the theological context within which Boyle developed his views on reason's limits. After arguing that a correct interpretation of his views on things above reason depends upon reading his works in the context of theological controversies in seventeenth-century England, Professor Wojcik details exactly how Boyle's three specific categories of things which transcend reasonothe incomprehensible, the inexplicable, and the unsociableoaffected his conception of what a natural philosopher could hope to know.In this study of Robert Boyle's epistemology, Jan W. Wojcik reveals the theological context within which Boyle developed his views on reason's limits. After arguing that a correct interpretation of his views on things above reason depends upon reading his works in the context of theological controversies in seventeenth-century England, Professor Wojcik details exactly how Boyle's three specific categories of things that transcended reason--the incomprehensible, the inexplicable, and the unsociable--affected his conception of what a natural philosopher could hope to know. Also detailed is Boyle's belief that God deliberately limited the human intellect in order to reserve a full knowledge of both theology and natural philosophy for thlm