Episode

#469 - From Natural Philosophy to Modern Science: A Dialogue with Peter Dear

Podcast
Converging Dialogues
Published
Jan 29, 2026
Duration seconds
4276
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https://convergingdialogues.substack.com/p/469-from-natural-philosophy-to-modern
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Summary

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Peter Dear about the history of modern science from natural philosophy. They discuss natural philosophy and modern science, Newton and theology, different ways of doing science, pure and mixed mathematics, Linnaeus and taxonomy, German pedagogy for modern science, physics research, Lapace and the bell curve, Faraday, Darwin, Einstein, and many more topics. Peter Dear is professor emeritus of history at Cornell University. His books include Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge in Transition, 1500–1700 (Princeton), The Intelligibility of Nature: How Science Makes Sense of the World , Discipline and Experience: The Mathematical Way in the Scientific Revolution and his latest book, The World As We Know It . Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe