Promethean Ambitions by James R. Newman
Alchemy and the Quest to Perfect Nature
A concise history of how premodern alchemists, artisans, and natural philosophers pursued the perfection of nature—through transmutation, artificial life, and the enhancement of materials—and how these aspirations ignited moral, religious, and political debates over the proper limits of human creativity. Tracing case studies from the medieval to early modern periods, it shows how laboratory craft, patronage, and the rhetoric of “art versus nature” helped shape experimental science, while exposing the persistent cultural anxieties surrounding the desire to rival or surpass nature itself.
- Published
- 2004
- Nationality
- American
- Length
- Moderate
- Pages
- 384-392
- Original Language
- English
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- Alternate Titles
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