Curating the Enlightenment - Johann Daniel Major and the Experimental Century

In late seventeenth-century Europe, scholars crafted the research university as a haven for critical inquiry in defiance of political and economic pressures. Across new fields, from experimental science to archaeology and museology, academics abandoned established intellectual practices and curated the concept of the research discipline itself.

List of contents

Part I. Introduction: 1. The dream of the butterfly; 2. Major's life and setting; Part II. Approaches to Knowledge: 3. The making of a research scholar; 4. The history of learning and research infrastructures; Part III. Reworking Disciplines: 5. Anthropology; 6. Lithology; 7. Archaeology; Part IV. Spaces of Knowledge: 8. Experimental philosophy; 9. Museology; Part V. Conclusion: 10. The light of nature and the uses of knowledge; Bibliography; Index.

About the author

Vera Keller is Professor of History at the University of Oregon. She holds particular interests in the emergence of experimental science and the connections between scientific research and capitalism, colonialism, and political economy. Keller is the author of Knowledge and the Public Interest, 1575–1725 (2015) and The Interlopers: Early Stuart Projects and the Undisciplining of Knowledge (2023).

Summary

In late seventeenth-century Europe, scholars crafted the research university as a haven for critical inquiry in defiance of political and economic pressures. Across new fields, from experimental science to archaeology and museology, academics abandoned established intellectual practices and curated the concept of the research discipline itself.

Foreword

Uncovers how late seventeenth-century scholars crafted the research university as a haven for critical inquiry.

Product details

• Authors: Vera Keller, Vera (University of Oregon) Keller, Keller Vera
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.07.2024
• EAN: 9781009506830
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0950683-0
• No. of pages: 414
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, HISTORY / Europe / Germany, European History, Germany, PHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / Modern, Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700, C 1600 To C 1700, Western philosophy: Enlightenment, Early 18th century c 1700 to c 1750, C 1700 To C 1800, Later 17th century c 1650 to c 1699, European history; enlightenment studies