A Battle Against Medieval Barbarism

Published: July 1, 2019, 9:30 a.m.

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Today, we explore the origin of the modern concept of a fact.

We take facts for granted, but they represent an invaluable intellectual technology less than 400 years old, which was forged in a fight between two of history\\u2019s brightest thinkers battling over the best way to rescue their society from the madness of medieval barbarism. \\xa0

There is a book that gives us a front row seat to that fight:\\xa0Leviathan and the Air Pump, published by the historians of science Steve Shapin and Simon Schaffer. It covers the\\xa0conflict between the Scientific Revolutionaries Thomas Hobbes and Robert Boyle concerning how new knowledge could and should be created, and out of which the concept of an objective fact as we now know it was born.\\xa0

Visit my Patreon page to access bonus episodes.\\xa0

Learn more at bradharris.com.

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