On the shoulders of giants
Seventeenth‐century optics as an argument field
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9237218 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alan G Gross (Purdue University Northwest, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1988 |
| Volume | 74 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-17 |
| Publication date | 1988-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Quarterly Journal of Speech (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0033-5630 • E-ISSN: 1479-5779 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00335638809383825 |
| OpenAlex | W2056080405 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 15 |
In the seventeenth century, Descartes founded, and Newton revolutionized, modern optics. This story, often told by historians and philosophers of science, can be profitably reconceived in terms of rhetoric. Conceived this way, analyzed this way, the history of optics becomes a‐succession of argument fields, scientific works are disclosed as sets of persuasive structures, and scientific revolutions are revealed as rhetorically constituted: successful efforts to persuade us that the present is seriously discontinuous with the past
Argument (complex analysis) · Art · Epistemology · Field (mathematics) · Linguistics · Literature · Rhetoric · Sociology · Historical and Literary Studies · Historical Philosophy and Science · History · History of Science and Medicine · Philosophy
The Philosophical Works of Descartes
Oeuvres de Descartes
"Art" of Rhetoric
Principles of Philosophy
Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact
Habermas
The Essential Tension
Aristotle's Posterior Analytics
The Cause of Refraction in Medieval Optics
Isaac Newton's Papers and Letters on Natural Philosophy
Never at Rest
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.17 |
| Citation span | 1990 - 2025 (36) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |