Science and Immortality: Eloges of the Paris Academy of Sciences, 1699-1791 - Hardcover

Science and Immortality. The Éloges of the Paris Academy of Sciences 1699-1791.

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(Berlin, Deutschland)

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Buchbeschreibung Zustand: Gut. X, 202 Seiten / p. sehr guter Zustand / very good condition - From the eighteenth century until at least as recently as World War II, the natural scientist was depicted as a kind of moral superman: objective, modest, ascetic, and selflessly dedicated to the betterment of mankind. What accounts for the widespread diffusion of this myth? -- In Science and Immortality Charles B. Paul provides a partial explanation. The modern ideology of the scientist as disinterested seeker after truth arose partly through the transformation of an ancient literary form - the commemoration of heroes. In 1699 Bernard de Fontenelle, as secretary of the Paris Academy of Sciences, inaugurated the tradition of the éloge, or eulogy, in honor of members of the Academy. The moral qualities that had once been attributed to the idealized Stoic philosopher were transferred in the eulogies to the "natural philosopher," or scientist. The over 200 éloges composed between 1699 and 1791 by Fontenelle and his successors, Mairan, Fouchy, and Condorcet, serv ed as a powerful device for the popularization of science. -- It was the intention of the secretaries, though, not only to exhibit the natural scientist as a modern-day hero but also to present a truthful record of scientific activity in France. Charles Paul examines the éloges both as a literary form that used rhetorical and stylistic devices to reconcile these two conflicting goals, and as a collective biography of a new breed of savants, a biography that already contained the seeds of the conflict between self-image and reality embedded in the modern sicentific enterprise. A unique history of science in eighteenth-century France, Science and Immortality illuminates the record in the éloges of the professionalization of some sciences and the maturation of others, the recognition of their utility to society and the state, and the widening trust in science as the remedy to economic restriction and political absolutism. Professor Paul s thorough catalog of the éloges, extensive bibliography, and translations of representative éloges will make this book an essential source for scholars in the field. ISBN 9780520039865 Sprache: Englisch Gewicht in Gramm: 450 Original Leinen kaschiert mit Schutzumschlag / Cloth laminated with dust jacket. Artikel-Nr. 1210337

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