Hooykaas emphasised the contingent aspect of this process. The consequences of this interaction between practice and theory, which favoured the emergence of experimental science, were unpredictable. It was not anchored in a metaphysical or philosophical perspective that could guarantee that we were on the right path to knowledge of the book of nature, nor could the pragmatic attitude that had been developed lead us to assume that this new approach contained an essential component of modern science—the attitude of coercive empiricism, as Floris Cohen would say, which, together with Greek philosophical rationalism and its mathematics, with the addition of a more humble attitude of reason towards the unexpected in the world of facts, would allow modern science to emerge. In his 1987 article, which was presented to the public in 1983, Hooykaas insisted that our geographical revolution "marks the beginning of a new, empiricist and non-rationalist trend in science" (Idem, 1987/2003, pp. 22, 25-28, cit. 28).

Active bibliography : Humanisme, science et Réforme, Pierre de la Ramée (1515-1572), Leyde, E. J. Brill. 1958; “The Portuguese Discoveries and the rise of modern science” [texto de 1966]. HOOYKAAS, Reijer, Selected Studies in History of Science. Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra, 1983, pp. 579-598; Religion and the rise of modern science, Edinburgh, Scottish Academic Press, 1972; “The reception of Copernicanism in England and the Netherlands”. The Anglo-Dutch Contribution to the Civilization of Early Modern Society. London: British Academy, 1976, pp. 33-44; Humanism and the voyages of discovery in 16th century Portuguese science and letters, Amsterdam, North-Holland Publishing Company, 1979; The Erasmian influence on D. João de Castro, Lisboa, Junta de Investigações Científicas do Ultramar, 1979; “Science in Manueline Style. The Historical Context of D. João de Castro’s Works”. CORTESÃO, Armando e ALBUQUERQUE, Luís de, Obras Completas de D. João de Castro, 4 Vols. (1968-1981). Coimbra: Academia Internacional da Cultura Portuguesa, vol. 4, 1981, pp. 231-426; “The Rise of Modern Science: When and Why?”. British Journal for History of Science. N.º 20 (4), 1987, pp. 453-473 (também em HELLYER, Marcus, The scientific revolution: the essential reading. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003, pp. 19-43); Fact, Faith and Fiction in the Development of Science, Dordrecht, Kluwer, 1999.

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