E-Book, Englisch, 342 Seiten
Reihe: Princeton Legacy Library
Fara Sympathetic Attractions
Course Book
ISBN: 978-1-4008-6436-2
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark
Magnetic Practices, Beliefs, and Symbolism in Eighteenth-Century England
E-Book, Englisch, 342 Seiten
Reihe: Princeton Legacy Library
ISBN: 978-1-4008-6436-2
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark
In this interdisciplinary study of eighteenth-century England, Patricia Fara explores how natural philosophers constructed magnetism as a science, appropriating the skills and knowledge of experienced navigators. For people of this period, magnetic phenomena reverberated with the symbolism of occult mystery, sexual attraction, and universal sympathies; in this maritime nation, magnetic instruments such as navigational compasses heralded imperial expansion, commercial gain, and scientific progress. By analyzing such multiple associations, Fara reconstructs cultural interactions in the days just prior to the creation of disciplinary science. Not only does this illustrated book provide a kaleidoscopic view of a changing society, but it also portrays the emergence of public science.
Linking this rise in interest to the utility and mysteriousness of magnetism, Fara organizes her discussion into themes, including commercialization, imperialism, instruments and invention, the role of language, attitudes toward the past, and the relationship between religion and natural philosophy. Fara shows that natural philosophers, proclaiming themselves as the only true experts on magnetism, actively participated in massive transformations of English life. In their bids for public recognition as elite specialists, they engaged in controversies that resonated with religious, economic, moral, gender, and political implications. These struggles for social and scientific authority in the eighteenth century provide the background for better understanding the cultural topography of modern society.
Originally published in 1996.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Autoren/Hrsg.
Fachgebiete
Weitere Infos & Material
List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction 3
Ch. 1 Mapping Enlightenment England: Practitioners and Philosophers 11
Ch. 2 "A Treasure of Hidden Vertues": Marketing Natural Philosophy 31
Ch. 3 The Direction of Invention: Setting a New Course for Compasses 66
Ch. 4 An Attractive Empire: Mapping Terrestrial Magnetism 91
Ch. 5 Measuring Power: Patterns in Experimental Natural Philosophy 118
Ch. 6 God's Mysterious Creation: The Divine Attraction of Natural Knowledge 146
Ch. 7 A Powerful Language: Images of Nature and the Nature of Science 171
Conclusion 208
Appendix: Magnetic Longitude Schemes 215
Notes 219
Bibliography 269
Index 319
