History of Science: Antiquity to 1700

I begin by applauding Professor Principe for bravely casting a wide net in this course. Yes, that is necessary but he must have known going in that he did so at a price. He shone a light on many dark corners in the process, but in doing so, he converted what, for me, would have been a sufficient survey in 24 lectures into one taking 36. I get it that this is entirely consistent with a university-level approach, but it occasionally flirts with tedium in the process, where a deeper dive into major turning points, such as the ultimate failure of Aristotelian Scholasticism, would have been appreciated. Some reviewers are entirely off the mark when they complain that there is an overly religious, or specifically Christian, component; in my view, when this arises, it comes with the territory. Also, I believe Professor Principe correctly approaches his subject by summoning it through the eyes of the time, and not with lazy hindsight. One matter that I found less than thorough (and I am not the first to note this) was that Newton failed to receive his due as the true father of classical Physics, on which Alexander Pope would surely have insisted. I found Professor Principe's delivery to be most agreeable, with the sole exception of his final summarizing lecture, where, for the only time, he was buried in the text.

A fascinating study of the evolution of the scientific tradition in the West. It is important to appreciate that Principe does not study each topic from the perspective of the present, i.e. explaining how a certain scientific insight in the Middle Ages led to our understanding of science today. Rather, he endeavors to understand the scientists/natural philosophers in the own context of their own time and civilization. This distinction makes the series a valuable work of scholarship rather than a facile survey.