In:
Journal of Inklings Studies, Edinburgh University Press, Vol. 11, No. 2 ( 2021-10), p. 193-209
Abstract:
This article examines a disagreement which briefly came to light decades ago, half-posthumously, between two twentieth-century Christian scholars, C.S. Lewis (1898–1963) and Reijer Hooykaas (1906–1994), the first Dutch professor in the history of science, who later succeeded to the chair of Eduard Dijksterhuis in Utrecht. Hooykaas and Lewis diverge in their views of the role traditionally ascribed to the work of Francis Bacon (1561–1626) as a major inspiration for the seventeenth-century scientific revolution. Put briefly, while Bacon is a hero for Hooykaas, he is an antihero for Lewis. Sorting out the extent to which either scholar was right not only results in a fairly clear answer but entails, as a bonus, a fine example of what the history of science as an academic discipline is indeed good for.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2045-8797
,
2045-8800
DOI:
10.3366/ink.2021.0114
Language:
English
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press
Publication Date:
2021
SSG:
7,25
