What is a (are some) good book(s) for the history of the philosophy of science in the 1200-1700 period?

by PCLD
restricteddata

What are you really trying to get at? There was no strict "philosophy of science" in that time period — there were various ideas put forward about how knowledge worked, how it could be obtains, what types of knowledge there were, etc. For example, it was a prevalent belief among educated people in Europe in the 17th century that astronomy was a form of mathematics, and could not achieve the same level of truth about the natural world that theology could obtain. We might today call that a form of scientific epistemology, though that wasn't how anyone at the time would label it.

If your goal is to ask "how did we get from 'pre-scientific' to 'scientific' thought?", there are several good books on the purported Scientific Revolution in Europe. Two that stand out to me that would be useful for your question are:

  • Stephen Shapin, The Scientific Revolution (University of Chicago Press, 1996).

  • Peter Dear, Discipline and Experience: The Mathematical Way in the Scientific Revolution (University of Chicago Press, 1995).

But if your interest is, say, the medieval philosophy of knowledge (e.g. Roger Bacon) you have to look into other sets of literature on that (which I am not as familiar with).

If your question is about non-European contexts (e.g. China) there is an entirely other literature on that, as well.