Philosophies of Technology: Francis Bacon and His ContemporariesClaus Zittel The essays in the present volume attempt to historically reconstruct the various dependencies of philosophical and scientific knowledge of the material and technical culture of the early modern era and to draw systematic conclusions for the writing of early modern history of science. The divisive transformation of humanist scholarly culture, the Scholastic school philosophy, as well as magic in the form of a philosophy of practice is always associated with the work of Francis Bacon. All of these essays in this volume reflect the close interaction between technical models and knowledge production in natural philosophy, natural history and epistemology. It becomes clear that the technological developments of the early modern era cannot be adequately depicted in the form of a pure history of technology but rather only as part of a broader, cultural history of the sciences. Contributors include: Todd Andrew Borlik, Arianna Borrelli, Thomas Brandstetter, Daniel Damler, Luisa Dolza, Moritz Epple, Berthold Heinecke, Dana Jalobeanu, J rgen Klein, Staffan M ller-Wille, Romano Nanni, Jarmo Pulkkinen, Pablo Schneider, Andr s Vaccari, Benjamin Wardhaugh, Sophie Weeks, and Claus Zittel. |
Contents
Industrious Observations Grounded Conclusions and Profi table Inventions and Discoveries the Best State of That Province Technology and Culture ... | 3 |
Francis Bacons Scientia Operativa The Tradition of the Workshops and The Secrets of Nature Jürgen Klein | 21 |
Technical Knowledge and the Advancement of Learning Some Questions about Perfectibility and Invention Romano Nanni | 51 |
The Weatherglass and its Observers in the Early Seventeenth Century Arianna Borrelli | 67 |
PART II BACON MECHANICS INSTRUMENTS AND UTOPIAS | 131 |
The Role of Mechanics in Francis Bacons Great Instauration Sophie Weeks | 133 |
Bacons Brotherhood and its Classical Sources Producing and Communicating Knowledge in the Project of the Great Instauration Dana Jalobeanu | 197 |
The Whale under the Microscope Technology and Objectivity in Two Renaissance Utopias Todd Andrew Borlik | 231 |
Descartes as Bricoleur Claus Zittel | 337 |
PART IV BACONS LEGACY THE IMPACT FOR THE ARTS AND SCIENCES | 373 |
The Poet and the Philosopher Francis Bacon and Georg Philipp Harsdörffer Berthold Heinecke | 375 |
Formal Causes and Mechanical Causes The Analogy of the Musical Instrument in Late SeventeenthCentury Natural Philosophy Benjamin Wardhaugh | 411 |
The Modern Wonder and its Enemies Courtly Innovations in the Spanish Renaissance Daniel Damler | 429 |
The Gap between Theory and Practice Hydrodynamical and Hydraulical Utopias in the 18th Century Moritz Epple | 457 |
Sentimental Hydraulics Utopia and Technology in 18thCentury France Thomas Brandstetter | 495 |
History Redoubled The Synthesis of Facts in Linnaean Natural History Staffan MullerWille | 515 |
PART III METAPHORIC MODELS | 253 |
The Role of Metaphors in William Harveys Thought Jarmo Pulkkinen | 253 |
Legitimating the Machine The Epistemological Foundation of Technological Metaphor in the Natural Philosophy of René Descartes Andrés Vaccari | 287 |
Rescue Attempts Scientific Images and the Mysteries of Power in the Era of Louis XIV Pablo Schneider | 539 |
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