'In no one Thing, they saw, agreeing': Communicating experimental philosophy in Cowley and Butler

This article explores the relationship between the ways that Abraham Cowley's 'To the Royal Society' and Samuel Butler's 'The Elephant in the Moon' the language of scientific epistemology as differing responses to the changes brought about by the 'scientific revolution' of the late seventeenth century. The focus is on the ways in which idea of scientific enquiry is written into Restoration literature and culture, and the impact that the new modes of thought found in experimental philosophy have on the public's perceptions of truth, knowledge and social order in the period.