EXPERIMENTALISM
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| William Gilbert (1544-1603) Courtesy Rice University,
who have an Introduction
to Gilbert |
Gilbert's experimental study of magnetism provides an example of thought that belonged partly to the framework that was in the end swept away by the the new science. He belonged to the tradition of 'Renaissance Naturalism', which regarded 'occult virtues' as 'pervading an animistic universe.' It was in opposition to Renaissance Naturalism that the mechanical philosophy developed.
(Galileo had experimented, but had thought of experiments as devices for getting points across. See Westfall, p.25.)
Another experimentalist, but belonging at least as much to the old order as to the new, was Harvey, who is usually thought of as 'discovering' that the blood circulated round the body.