Margaret C. Jacob"s social history of Newtonian philosophy has generated much heated discussion over the role of social andideological climates in the development of science. As she describes the integration of Newton"s science with teh interests of the Anglican church in the English constitutional order of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Jacob seeks to reintegrate the scientific history of theperiod into the narrative framework of general history. At the same time, this book argues that the great power of science must be recognized, based not simply on its social construction, but also on its ability to exist in a dialectic with nature.