Browne Epidemica

Kühn, Thomas: Sir Thomas Brownes <I>Religio Medici</I> und <I>Pseudodoxia Epidemica</I>. Eine ideengeschichtliche Untersuchung mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des Begriffs "reason". Frankfurt/M., Bern, New York, Paris Peter Lang Vlg. 1989. ISBN: 978-3-631-42002-7
Sir Thomas Browne darf als einer der Hauptvertreter der englischen Prosa des 17. Jahrhunderts angesehen werden. Seine beiden Hauptwerke zeugen von einer starken Beziehung zur spätmittelalterlichen Tradition, sind aber auch von Spannungen geprägt, die sich aus der Zuwendung zu rein innerweltlichen Phänomenen unter naturwissenschaftlichen Fragestellungen ergeben. Die Untersuchung, welche Bedeutung Browne der Vernunft ("reason") beimißt, läßt die fruchtbare Spannung zwischen traditionellem Glauben und moderner Naturwissenschaft besonders augenfällig werden. In der Religio Medici weist Sir Thomas, essayistisch-spielerisch, der Menschlichen Vernunft gegenüber dem Glauben eine untergeordnete Stellung zu. In der Pseudodoxia Epidemica setzt er sich mit weitverbreiteten Irrtümern auseinander. Der Vernunft als Entscheidungskriterium der Erkenntnis von Irrtum und Wahrheit räumt er in diesem Zusammenhang den ersten Rang ein. Nicht zu übersehen ist jedoch, daß er auch in seinem opus magnum den Wirkungsbereich der Vernunft mit skeptischer Kritik eingrenzt. Sir Thomas Browne leitet diese Skepsis von der Irrtumsverfallenheit des Menschen ab und begründet seine Kritik letztlich auch hier mit religiösen Argumenten. Beide Werke charakterisieren Sir Thomas Browne als einen in alten Traditionen verwurzelten Menschen. Gleichzeitig aber geht er Fragen seiner Zeit mit wachem Interesse und philosophischer Neugier nach, ohne die Leistungen der menschlichen Vernunft als alleiniges Erkenntniskriterium anzunehmen.

343 S. Br. *neuwertig*

[SW: Anglistik]

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Browne, [Sir] Thomas: Pseudodoxia Epidemica: Or, Enquiries Into Very many Received Tenents, And commonly Presumed Truths, 1646 London Printed By T.H. for Edward Dod ; fester Einband / hard cover; 1. Ed.

Hardcover VG+ Edition: First Edition 20th Century antique style full calf with boards ruled in blind and gilt titles on spine, license leaf before title page, previous owner's neat inscription at top of title page, pages a little toned throughout and the last 30pp with some waterstaining to outermargins but text still clear, pp. [16] 386 - a6, b4, A-Z4, Aa-Zz4,Aaa-Bbb6. Sir Thomas Browne's vast work refuting the common errors and superstitions of his age, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, first appeared in 1646 and went through five subsequent editions, the last revision occurring in 1672. While the work is now sometimes ridiculed for the errors it itself contains, at the time it was at the forefront of the scientific revolution of the 17th century. Browne had three determinants for truth; the authority of past authors, the act of reason and lastly, empirical experience. This last places him in the Baconian tradition which holds that the empirical observation of nature is the means to obtain the truth about the natural world. It was this method that underpinned the emergence of what was, in the 17th century, called 'natural philosophy' and what we, today, would call science. , 4to 11" - 13" tall

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Browne, Sir Thomas: Pseudodoxia Epidemica Or, Enquiries Into Very Many Received Tenentes, and Commonly Presumed Truths, 1972 Bx114 Scolar Press ; fester Einband / hard cover
0854178430

Hardcover Very Good Edition: Facsimile Hardcover. 4to. Scolar Press. 1972. 372 pgs. Facsimile reprint of the original Pseudodoxia from 1646. No DJ as issued. Endpapers lightly foxed. No ownership marks present. Binding tight and solid, boards clean with no wear present. Pseudodoxia Epidemica is a work by Thomas Browne refuting the common errors and superstitions of his age. It first appeared in 1646 and went through five subsequent editions, the last revision occurring in 1672. The work includes evidence of Browne's adherence to the Baconian method of empirical observation of nature, and was in the vanguard of work-in-progress scientific journalism in the 17th century scientific revolution, though he refers to his work as an encyclopaedia. Throughout its pages frequent examples of Browne's subtle humour can also be found. Photos sent upon request. BX114; 4to 11" - 13" tall; 372 pages

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Browne, Sir Thomas: PSEUDOXIA EPIDEMICA - OF UNICORNES HORNES,

(Robinson, Alan James). PSEUDOXIA EPIDEMICA - OF UNICORNES HORNES by Sir Thomas Browne. Cheloniidae Press, 1984. Numbered 67/150 (the regular edition) Tall 8vo., vellum backed boards, text, 16 wood-engraved illustrations by Robinson, plus a separate suite of four of the illustrations, each signed and numbered by Robinson, bound in at the back. Printed by Harold McGrath and bound by Grey Parrot.

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