Instruments of Knowledge
Finding Meaning in Objects, Habits, and Museums
Published on 26. June 2023
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-90-04-50460-8 (ISBN)
Description
In a bid to claim 'scientific objects' as requiring a significant amount of conceptual labor, this book looks sequentially at instruments, habits, and museums. The goal is to uncover how, together, these material and immaterial activities, rules, and commitments form one meaningful and credible blueprint revealing the building blocks of knowledge production. They serve to conceptualize and examine the entire life of an instrument: from its ideation and craft to its use, reuse, circulation, recycling, and (if not obliterated) its final entry into a museum. It is such an epistemological triptych that guides this investigation.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
594 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-04-50460-8 (9789004504608)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Jean-Francois Gauvin, Ph.D. (2008) is an associate professor of history and museum studies at Universite Laval in Quebec city. He has published numerous articles on scientific instruments and two frequently cited edited volumes on globes and abbe Jean-Antoine Nollet.
Content
Acknowledgments
List of Illustrations
Introduction
?1?A Short Case Study: The Early Academie royale des sciences in Paris
?2?Reading This Book
Part 1: Organum
Introduction
1 Quid organum erat? The Idea of Instrument in Early Modern Europe
?1?Organum scientiae: Definitions and Examples
?2?Organ-ization of Knowledge
2 Organ Making and Natural Philosophical Knowledge in Marin Mersenne's Harmonie Universelle
?1?Mersenne's Seven Books on Instruments in the Harmonie universelle
?2?The Organ and Mersenne's Epistemology of Natural Philosophical Knowledge
?3?Musical Instruments and the 'parfait musicien'
Part 2: Habitus
Introduction
3 Habitus in corpore, habitus in anima: Making and Thinking in Early Modern Europe
?1?Defining habitus in Early Modern Europe
?2?Habitus and Descartes's Logic of Practice
?3?Habitus and the Concept of Knowledge Production
?4?Blaise Pascal, coutume, and the Arithmetical Machine
4 From idiotae to artistes: Artisans, Instruments, and the Nature of Craftsmanship in Early Modern Europe
?1?Descartes, Artisans, and ames reglees
?2?Who Assists Whom: The Structural Dynamic of Artisan and Savant Interactions
?3?From artiste to Toyware Manufacturing
Part 3: Museum
Introduction
5 Repair, Restoration, Exhibition: Instruments and the Epistemic Value of Brokenness
?1?Restorer v. Conservator: How to 'Repair' Damaged Instruments?
?2?Reconstruction and Restoration: Abbe Nollet's Scientific Instruments
?3?Identity, Integrity, Authenticity: Between the Unit of the Total and the Unit of the Whole
?4?Reuse and Recycle: Exhibiting the DIY of Scientists and Craftsmen
6 Instrument Trajectories: Ways of Knowing the World
?1?Collecting Instruments
?2?Knowing Through Playing
?3?Digitizing Collections
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
List of Illustrations
Introduction
?1?A Short Case Study: The Early Academie royale des sciences in Paris
?2?Reading This Book
Part 1: Organum
Introduction
1 Quid organum erat? The Idea of Instrument in Early Modern Europe
?1?Organum scientiae: Definitions and Examples
?2?Organ-ization of Knowledge
2 Organ Making and Natural Philosophical Knowledge in Marin Mersenne's Harmonie Universelle
?1?Mersenne's Seven Books on Instruments in the Harmonie universelle
?2?The Organ and Mersenne's Epistemology of Natural Philosophical Knowledge
?3?Musical Instruments and the 'parfait musicien'
Part 2: Habitus
Introduction
3 Habitus in corpore, habitus in anima: Making and Thinking in Early Modern Europe
?1?Defining habitus in Early Modern Europe
?2?Habitus and Descartes's Logic of Practice
?3?Habitus and the Concept of Knowledge Production
?4?Blaise Pascal, coutume, and the Arithmetical Machine
4 From idiotae to artistes: Artisans, Instruments, and the Nature of Craftsmanship in Early Modern Europe
?1?Descartes, Artisans, and ames reglees
?2?Who Assists Whom: The Structural Dynamic of Artisan and Savant Interactions
?3?From artiste to Toyware Manufacturing
Part 3: Museum
Introduction
5 Repair, Restoration, Exhibition: Instruments and the Epistemic Value of Brokenness
?1?Restorer v. Conservator: How to 'Repair' Damaged Instruments?
?2?Reconstruction and Restoration: Abbe Nollet's Scientific Instruments
?3?Identity, Integrity, Authenticity: Between the Unit of the Total and the Unit of the Whole
?4?Reuse and Recycle: Exhibiting the DIY of Scientists and Craftsmen
6 Instrument Trajectories: Ways of Knowing the World
?1?Collecting Instruments
?2?Knowing Through Playing
?3?Digitizing Collections
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index