Action and Reaction

by Jean Starobinski

"Action and Reaction is a semantic and philological history, a literary history, a history of medicine, and a history of the biological sciences. Concentrating especially on the moment when scientific language and ordinary language diverge, the author offers a genealogy of the human and natural sciences through their usage of the metaphors action and reaction. The author analyses the scientific, literary, and political effects of the terms action and reaction in describing and explaining the material universe, the living body, the events of history, and psychological behavior."--BOOK JACKET.