Walter Charleton’s Theory of Matter: How Politics and Scientific Societies Influenced his Works

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F49777513%3A23330%2F20%3A43958657" target="_blank" >RIV/49777513:23330/20:43958657 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.athensjournals.gr/ajhis" target="_blank" >https://www.athensjournals.gr/ajhis</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.30958/ajhis.6-3-4" target="_blank" >10.30958/ajhis.6-3-4</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Walter Charleton’s Theory of Matter: How Politics and Scientific Societies Influenced his Works

Original language description

This paper investigates how the politics and the scientific societies influenced Walter Charleton’s matter theory. Initially, the study refers to two different historical theories of analysis of Charleton’s theory of matter, explaining, through the analysis of his most well-known works, why these historical perspectives are both correct. Next, the study undertakes a close reading of Charleton’s life, with the aim of explaining why he divorced himself from the alchemical doctrines in public, while he continued to use the alchemical terms. Investigating his life, the study shows how he was influenced by the politics, religion and scientific communities of his era. As Charleton, a Royalist, lived in the period of the Interregnum and Restoration and his major goals were to acquire a position and funds from the College of Physicians and Royal Society. Finally, the study provides a different historical view about Charleton’s eclecticism, which is used to his theory, in order to be part of the “elite” of scholars in England. This study concludes that Charleton’s matter theory can be considered hybrid of vitalistic and mechanistic philosophy and is an example of how the scientific theories, in the late seventeenthcentury, began to differentiate from the old ones.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_ost - Miscellaneous article in a specialist periodical

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

60301 - Philosophy, History and Philosophy of science and technology

Project

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Continuities

V - Vyzkumna aktivita podporovana z jinych verejnych zdroju

Publication year

2020

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Athens Journal of History

ISSN

2407-9677

e-ISSN

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Volume of the periodical

6

Issue of the periodical within the volume

3

Country of publishing house

GR - GREECE

Number of pages

11

Pages from-to

287-297

UT code for WoS article

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EID of the result in the Scopus database

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