Review by Choice Review
In this polemical analysis, Roecklein (rhetoric and political philosophy, Penn State, Erie) views early modern mechanical philosophy through the interpretive lens of classical atomism, a physical theory, he argues, that Plato and Aristotle decisively refuted. As such, Roecklein construes mechanism as a largely reactionary attack on the immaterialism of Plato and Aristotle, where his sympathies clearly lie. Roecklein further sees in the thought of Bacon, Descartes, Hobbes, and Spinoza a concealed ideological agenda that, through the devaluation of ordinary perception, grants unchallengeable epistemic privilege to the intellectual elite. His analysis eschews examination of the historical context of the scientific revolution and its motivations for exploring mechanistic explanation, opting instead to force early modern natural philosophy anachronistically into the interpretive frameworks and ideological battle lines of ancient philosophical thought. The results are strained and often superficial portrayals of the thought of the four early modern thinkers. Several factors make this book difficult to recommend: the distortions of the analysis, an awkward prose style, and the author's troubling use of dismissive language when depicting views differing from his own, e.g., his reference to a particular aspect of Spinoza's thinking as "infantile" (p. 191). --Daniel A. Forbes, West Chester University of Pennsylvania
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
