ABSTRACT
Ever since Max Weber pointed to the development of modern science as one of the characteristic features of European civilization, 1 historians have proposed a variety of reasons for this phenomenon. 2 These proposals have included attempts to trace connections between certain Protestant religious doctrines and the “scientific revolution” of the seventeenth century — in analogy to Weber’s own attempts to derive the capitalist spirit from the Protestant ethic. 3 I do not intend to enter the controversies about these or other current theories but rather to propose a hitherto neglected aspect of the development of modern science. It is meant as an addition to a composite picture and not a criticism or rejection of any of its generally accepted or debated components.
