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08642_Field_TCGG T407.txt
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1996-04-10
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was an interruption in the development of science. The
‘revival of letters’ deflected interest from matter to
literary style and, in turning back to classical antiquity, its
devotees affected to ignore the scientific progress of the
previous three centuries. The same absurd conceit that
led the humanists to abuse and misrepresent their
immediate predecessors for using Latin constructions
unknown to Cicero and to put out the propaganda which,
in varying degrees, has captivated historical opinion until
quite recently, also allowed them to borrow from the
scholastics without acknowledgment. This habit affected
almost all the great scientists of the 16th and 17th
centuries, whether Catholic or Protestant, and it has
required the labors of a Duhem or a Thorndike or a Maier
to show that their statements on matters of history
cannot be accepted at their face value.