I just purchased a signed copy of Forces and Fields: A Study of Action at a Distance in the History of Physics, Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1961. I was struck by three rare attributes that distinguish her work: 1. her grasp of the power and limits of abstraction to provide a framework for perceived realities; 2. her ability to craft such a framework and apply it as a selective lens for revealing historical relations; and 3. her ability to find expression for her perceptions after the manner of Locke: "...gentle steps, things ascend upwards in degrees of perfection." Thank you for your work in maintaining a tribute worthy of such passionate inspiration.Reading Mary Hesse changed the way I understand the world and society. A profoundly earthshattering experience.
As a science teacher, I appreciate the statement made in "Science and the Human Imagination" which states,"God is in Heaven and man
is upon the earth...and men must not presume to the transcendence and objectivity of God." The statement assists us in forming our understanding
of the place of Quantum physics. Thank you.
Estou estudando analogias na Quimica com alguns artigos de Mary Hesse. Gostaria de receber mais informações sobre o livro Models and Analogies in
Science.
Um abraço
Jorge Luis Freitas, aluno do Mestrado em Ensino, Filosofia e Historia da Ciência, UFBa-BAHIA-BRASIL (jlffreitas@hotmail.com), 24 November 2004
For many years Mary Hesse has been my guide in things philosophical. I'm not sure that I always agree with her, but then again I have difficulty understanding many
of the things she writes about. I'd like to read about her views on miracles, but haven't got my hands on those writings where she deals with
such things.
I'm really pleased to see this site dedicated to her work.
I was Mary's advisee in the MPhil program in HPS at Cambs in 1980-81; she supervised my master's thesis criticizing the pragmatic antirealism of Davidson and Rorty (the latter an
undergraduate teacher of mine). She was unfailingly fair and tough-minded, an excellent teacher with a dry sense of humor. At the time I was rather
red, and I recall at one point, when I was expressing incredulity that anyone could accept the Davidson-Rorty conclusion that most of our beliefs
must be true, she remarked that there's one thing that Christians and Marxists share, which is an appreciation for the limitless capacity of
humans for error. She invited me to stay on for the PhD, but I returned to the US to complete my degree at Michigan, and I lost contact with her. I
have always remembered her with affection and appreciation, and am pleased to see that someone has set up a website in her honor.
I remember Miss Hesse at Cambridge in 1972-73, providing some stimulating lectures on philosophical problems in modern physics, and also as a helpful, patient
and wise counsellor for my (not terribly good) final-year dissertation. I also spent hours in the University Library reading her books Forces
and Fields and Science and the Human Imagination.
She wrote, lectured and talked in a way that conveyed authority and complete conviction, and also a penetrating, almost awe-inspiring, insight into
nature and the ways we have of finding out about it.
Luigi Lentini, (Prof., Università "Ca' Foscari" Venezia), 26
October 2002
Great looking site in honour of a very interesting and admirable person -- thank you!
Gaz, 21 October 2002
I've only had time to have a quick look at the website you have made for Mary, but it is a most impressive and attractive project. Thank you for doing this.
Peter (Prof. Peter Lipton, Head of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge), 19 October 2002