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Robert Hooke's Micrographia

Robert Hooke maintained from his experiments with microscopes that the human senses and human reason are inadequate means of understanding the natural world. HookeÆs Micrographia is a systematic account of the authorÆs scientific observations with a number of different optical lenses or microscopes. In the Age of Enlightenment, HookeÆs ideas and observations maintained that human reason and the senses were insufficient to accurately portray the natural world. Instead, he argues in Micrographia that microscopic enquiry is a surer means of offering objective and true insights into natural phenomena. This analysis will address two of the methods Hooke uses in Micrographia to sell his ideas to those outside of the Royal Society.

In order to sell his ideas to those outside of the Royal Society, Hooke provides a number of examples in Micrographia to demonstrate the inadequacy and subjective nature of relying on only the senses. Micrographia offers intricately detailed drawings of HookeÆs microscopic observations, along with the authorÆs description of his observations. These descriptions are often aimed at validating his contention that the human senses are inadequate to make truthful observations about worlds insensible to unaided human perception. In his description and rendering of the eyes of the fly, Hooke makes a compelling case that without microscopic investigation there is little way to accurately determine the true nature of the flyÆs eye. As Hooke (sig. g1v) writes, ôIn the Sunshine they look like a Surface coverÆd with golden Nails; in another posture, like a Surface coverÆd with Pyramids; in another with Cones; and in other postures of quite other shapes; but that which exhibits the best, is the Light collected on the Object, by those means I have already describÆd.ö

HookeÆs microscopic observations demonstrated to him that the human senses are limited in their ability to accurat

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Robert Hooke's Micrographia. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:08, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1711765.html