On Bad History: Reply to Pinnick

This article offers a response to the arguments raised by Cassandra Pinnick in her paper "What's Wrong With the Strong Programme's Case Study of the 'Hobbes-Boyle' Dispute?" Pinnick maintains the judgment in her paper that the book "Leviathan and the Air-Pump" represents bad history. Pinnick first tried to show that Hobbes' and Boyle's epistemology and methodology were not systematically distinct to any degree. Hence, it is argued in this article that Pinnick cannot find in the book the views she would like to pick out. It is noted that the book gives close analysis of the principles which Hobbes and Boyle shared and gives lengthy accounts of the way in which protagonists transformed their programs in response to changes in experimental philosophy.