A History of European Thought in the Nineteenth Century

John Theodore Merz (1840-1922) was an industrial chemist and philosopher who came to Britain from his native Germany in 1867. His life-long work was dominated by the desire to contribute towards the unification of knowledge. Uniting the two cultures of science and the arts, Merz's "History of European Thought in the Nineteenth Century" is an extended survey of the development of scientific (volumes 1 and 2) and philosophical (volumes 3 & 4) thought. It is not a history of science, but a history of scientific thinking, not a history of philosophy, but a survey of the main philosophical ideas. It was perceived by his contemporaries as a continutation of Whewell's "History of Inductive Science" (1837). As the only study which examines the whole range of continental 19th-century intellect it is an important and essential sourcebook for scholars. Divided into two sections, each containing extensive bibliographic footnotes and an index, it refers to the key works and theories of the major European scientists and philosophers. Volume 2 also contains one of the first attempts by a historian to include the subject of mathematical thought in a general history of intellectual progress. Merz's work was originally published in four volumes between 1896 and 1914. Subsequent unaltered editions followed and it has remained a classic study of the history of European scientific and philosophical debate.