Dissertation: Ovid's Metamorphoses and the Scientific Revolution

[Paul Ferguson]

" Focussing on astrology, natural magic and alchemy, and their modern counterparts, astronomy, experimental science and chemistry, the dissertation shows that the reception of Ovid in these domains exhibits a complex interplay of rejection and appropriation, both within and between different philosophers, which replays the dynamics of the reception of fiction exposed within the original poem. Ovid’s poem thus functioned historically as a crucial site for debate about the role of fiction in scientific method, and affords valuable insights into disputes between realist and anti-realist philosophers of science that continue to generate controversy."

Samuel Galson

https://dataspace.princeton.edu/handle/8...10k225d47t