Leviathan and the Air-Pump

Published by Princeton University Press in 1985, Leviathan and the Air-Pump by Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer revolutionized the history and philosophy of science by demonstrating that Robert Boyle's celebrated vacuum experiments of the 1660s succeeded not through transparent demonstration of natural facts but through the careful construction of a witnessing community whose social standing guaranteed credibility. The book's title juxtaposes Thomas Hobbes's political theory with Boyle's experimental apparatus, revealing that the dispute between them was not merely about natural philosophy but about the proper relationship between knowledge and power. Where Hobbes argued that knowledge required philosophical demonstration accessible to reason, Boyle argued that experimental demonstration before credible witnesses produced a superior form of knowledge. The resolution of this dispute established the experimental method as legitimate—a social achievement, not a logical necessity.