Space-Perception and the Philosophy of Science

"Professor Heelan's book may well be the most substantial contribution yet made by the phenomenological/hermeneutical tradition to the understanding of science. Its primary aim is to show how, starting in the fifteenth century, certain artifacts were introduced to the European lifeworld which gradually restructured spatial perception so as to make the emergence of the scientific world view in the seventeenth century a natural outcome. Its secondary aim is to serve as an exemplar for systematic research in the philosophy of science that stands clearly outside the purview of the dominant analytical/positivist schools."—Steve Fuller, Philosophy of the Social Sciences

"An important, timely work that, from a phenomenological, hermeneutic stance, illuminates current issues in the philosophy of science and gives a promising direction for progress in that discipline . . . . Highly recommended for scientists, students, and others interested in how hermeneutics can be applied to scientific observations."—Choice

"Heelan's is a richly complex book, expounding at least four interrelated major theses together with several associated minor theses, the whole presented in an enveloping philosophical framework. . . . I believe that students of both the arts and the sciences need to take Heelan's work seriously into account."—C. A. Hooker, Erkenntnis