Synopsis
Margaret Cavendish's 1668 edition of Observations upon Experimental Philosophy, presented here in its first modern edition, holds a unique position in early modern philosophy. Cavendish rejects the Aristotelianism which was taught in the universities in the seventeenth century, and the picture of nature as a grand machine which was propounded by Hobbes, Descartes and members of the Royal Society of London, such as Boyle. She also rejects the views of nature which make reference to immaterial spirits. Instead she develops an original system of organicist materialism, and draws on the doctrines of ancient Stoicism to attack the tenets of seventeenth-century mechanical philosophy. Her treatise is a document of major importance in the history of women's contributions to philosophy and science.

First Sentence
In this present treatise, I have ventured to make some observations upon experimental philosophy, and to examine the opinions of some of our modern microscopical or dioptrical writers: and, though your Grace is not only a lover of virtuosos, but a virtuoso yourself, and have as good, and as many sorts of optic glasses as anyone else; yet you do not busy yourself much with this brittle art, but employ most part of your time in the more noble and heroic art of horsemanship and weapons, as also in the sweet and delightful art of poetry, and in the useful art of architecture, etc. which shows that you do not believe much in the informations of those optic glasses, at least think them not so useful as others do, that spend most of their time in dioptrical inspections. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
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