Part Four

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BIRTH OF THE MODERN

Natural Philosophy is therefore but young.

– Thomas Hobbes, Elements of Philosophy, 1656

Part Four addresses two very different consequences of the Scientific Revolution. The first and last chapters explore the scientific origins of the Industrial Revolution, which turn out to be earlier and closer than previously suspected. The middle chapter looks at belief in supernatural agency – witches, demons, poltergeists. Initially, key figures engaged in the new science hoped that it would help prove the reality of supernatural activity; after the publication of Newton’s Principia (1687) the result was quite the opposite: the new science seemed to legitimize a new scepticism.