William Whewell, Philosopher of Science

William Whewell was one of the most prolific and influential writers of early Victorian England. His two seminal works, "History of the Inductive Sciences from the Earliest to the Present Time " (1830) and "Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences Founded upon their History" (1840), form the cornerstone of his intellectual undertaking. They are unique in that they presented for the first time a full-blown and comprehensive history of the sciences, and, founded upon that, a systematic and detailed theory and methodology of science, designed explicitly to counter Francis Bacon's influential "Novum Organum". The author reconstructs the historical origins of Whewell's two works, and evaluates their philosophical claims. In the last part of the book he gives a critical appraisal of Whewell's mature philosophical position, having first traced the development of his thought. Whewell emerges as the only writer of his generation to have risen fully to the philosophical challenge of the mathematical physics of his day, and to have established in response a theory of science intriguingly akin to the new theories of emergence which were being offered by Lyell and Darwin.
The work should appeal to philosophers interested in the history of philosophy and philosophy of science, scientists interested in the history of science and the history and philosophy of mathematics, and historians with an interest in the history of ideas.