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Instruments of Knowledge
Finding Meaning in Objects, Habits, and Museums
Series: - Nuncius Series, Volume: 12
Author:
In a bid to claim âscientific objectsâ 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.
Jean-François Gauvin, Ph.D. (2008) is an associate professor of history and museum studies at Université Laval in Québec city. He has published numerous articles on scientific instruments and two frequently cited edited volumes on globes and abbé Jean-Antoine Nollet.
Acknowledgments
List of Illustrations
Introduction
â1âA Short Case Study: The Early Académie royale des sciences in Paris
â2âReading This Book
Introduction
1 Quid organum erat? The Idea of Instrument in Early Modern Europe
â1âOrganum scientiae: Definitions and Examples
â2âOrgan-ization of Knowledge
2 Organ Making and Natural Philosophical Knowledge in Marin Mersenneâs Harmonie Universelle
â1âMersenneâs Seven Books on Instruments in the Harmonie universelle
â2âThe Organ and Mersenneâs Epistemology of Natural Philosophical Knowledge
â3âMusical Instruments and the âparfait musicienâ
Introduction
3 Habitus in corpore, habitus in anima: Making and Thinking in Early Modern Europe
â1âDefining habitus in Early Modern Europe
â2âHabitus and Descartesâs Logic of Practice
â3âHabitus and the Concept of Knowledge Production
â4âBlaise Pascal, coutume, and the Arithmetical Machine
4 From idiotae to artistes: Artisans, Instruments, and the Nature of Craftsmanship in Early Modern Europe
â1âDescartes, Artisans, and âmes réglées
â2âWho Assists Whom: The Structural Dynamic of Artisan and Savant Interactions
â3âFrom artiste to Toyware Manufacturing
Introduction
5 Repair, Restoration, Exhibition: Instruments and the Epistemic Value of Brokenness
â1âRestorer v. Conservator: How to âRepairâ Damaged Instruments?
â2âReconstruction and Restoration: Abbé Nolletâs Scientific Instruments
â3âIdentity, Integrity, Authenticity: Between the Unit of the Total and the Unit of the Whole
â4âReuse and Recycle: Exhibiting the DIY of Scientists and Craftsmen
6 Instrument Trajectories: Ways of Knowing the World
â1âCollecting Instruments
â2âKnowing Through Playing
â3âDigitizing Collections
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
List of Illustrations
Introduction
â1âA Short Case Study: The Early Académie royale des sciences in Paris
â2âReading This Book
Part 1: Organum
Introduction
1 Quid organum erat? The Idea of Instrument in Early Modern Europe
â1âOrganum scientiae: Definitions and Examples
â2âOrgan-ization of Knowledge
2 Organ Making and Natural Philosophical Knowledge in Marin Mersenneâs Harmonie Universelle
â1âMersenneâs Seven Books on Instruments in the Harmonie universelle
â2âThe Organ and Mersenneâs Epistemology of Natural Philosophical Knowledge
â3âMusical Instruments and the âparfait musicienâ
Part 2: Habitus
Introduction
3 Habitus in corpore, habitus in anima: Making and Thinking in Early Modern Europe
â1âDefining habitus in Early Modern Europe
â2âHabitus and Descartesâs Logic of Practice
â3âHabitus and the Concept of Knowledge Production
â4âBlaise Pascal, coutume, and the Arithmetical Machine
4 From idiotae to artistes: Artisans, Instruments, and the Nature of Craftsmanship in Early Modern Europe
â1âDescartes, Artisans, and âmes réglées
â2âWho Assists Whom: The Structural Dynamic of Artisan and Savant Interactions
â3âFrom artiste to Toyware Manufacturing
Part 3: Museum
Introduction
5 Repair, Restoration, Exhibition: Instruments and the Epistemic Value of Brokenness
â1âRestorer v. Conservator: How to âRepairâ Damaged Instruments?
â2âReconstruction and Restoration: Abbé Nolletâs Scientific Instruments
â3âIdentity, Integrity, Authenticity: Between the Unit of the Total and the Unit of the Whole
â4âReuse and Recycle: Exhibiting the DIY of Scientists and Craftsmen
6 Instrument Trajectories: Ways of Knowing the World
â1âCollecting Instruments
â2âKnowing Through Playing
â3âDigitizing Collections
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
This book is of interest to early modern scholars in the history of science and museum professionals in the same field. For academic libraries and museums.