Robert Boyle and the Limits of Reason

Book info: Robert Boyle and the Limits of Reason (Hardcover, 262 pages) – Cambridge University Press, 1997. Language: English.

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 the afterlife. Editorial Reviews Book Description A study of Boyle's epistemology, revealing the theological context of his views on reason's limits.