LFPL's At the Library Series

We often think of science as the result of a gradual process of improvement. On this view, partially successful theories are replaced over time by ever more successful ones. In this class, I argue that deeply flawed theories – which even contemporaries immediately recognize as failures – can influence and encourage scientific investigation and thinking. Descartes’ hydrodynamic conception of neurophysiology provides a specific example of how it is possible to fail up in science.