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Theoryâs Practice: Reflections on Technology in Germany around 1800
Series: - Technology and Change in History, Volume: 19
Author:
What is technology? When we grapple with this question, we try to understand something fundamental about humanity, given that technical objects and practices inform every aspect of our lives.
The focus in this study on late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Germany underscores a pivotal moment in technologyâs conceptual history and offers a fresh perspective. The translations and interpretive essays in this volume show how those writers engaged with technology reflected on its history and innovations even as they engaged in more speculative thinking.
Their work, definitive of a historical epoch, can still speak to us today.
The focus in this study on late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Germany underscores a pivotal moment in technologyâs conceptual history and offers a fresh perspective. The translations and interpretive essays in this volume show how those writers engaged with technology reflected on its history and innovations even as they engaged in more speculative thinking.
Their work, definitive of a historical epoch, can still speak to us today.
Jocelyn Holland is Professor of Comparative Literature at Caltech. Her book-length publications include German Romanticism and Science (Routledge, 2009); Key Texts by Johann Wilhelm Ritter on the Science and Art of Nature (Brill, 2010); and The Lever as Instrument of Reason: Technological Constructions of Knowledge around 1800 (Bloomsbury, 2019).
Contents
Translatorâs Note
Introduction: the Past, Present and Future of âTechnology,â circa 1800
Essay: Overview of the Entry on âTechnologieâ from Johann Heinrich Zedlerâs Universal Lexicon
Translation: Zedlerâs Lexicon Entry, âTechnologieâ
Essay: Johann Beckmann (1739â1811): Technological Objects, Practices, and Ideas
Translation: Beckmannâs Preface to the Guide to Technology, 1st Edition (1777)
Translation: Introduction to the Guide to Technology, 1st Edition (1777)
Essay: Two Genres, Two Approaches to Technology: a Dictionary and a System
Translation: Johann Beckmannâs Preface to the Technological Dictionary, 1st Edition (1781)
Translation: Johann Jacobssonâs Preface to the Technological Dictionary, 1st Edition (1781)
Translation: Introduction to Georg Lamprechtâs Instruction Book of Technology, 1st Edition (1787)
Essay: Technologyâs Two Perspectives: the General and the Historical
Translation: Johann Beckmannâs Draft of a General Technology, 1st Edition (1806)
Translation: Preface to Johann Poppeâs History of Technology, 1st Edition (1807)
Translation: General Introduction to Johann Poppeâs History of Technology, 1st Edition (1807)
Bibliography
Index
Translatorâs Note
Introduction: the Past, Present and Future of âTechnology,â circa 1800
Part 1: From technologia to Technologie
Essay: Overview of the Entry on âTechnologieâ from Johann Heinrich Zedlerâs Universal Lexicon
Translation: Zedlerâs Lexicon Entry, âTechnologieâ
Essay: Johann Beckmann (1739â1811): Technological Objects, Practices, and Ideas
Translation: Beckmannâs Preface to the Guide to Technology, 1st Edition (1777)
Translation: Introduction to the Guide to Technology, 1st Edition (1777)
Part 2: Technological Orders
Essay: Two Genres, Two Approaches to Technology: a Dictionary and a System
Translation: Johann Beckmannâs Preface to the Technological Dictionary, 1st Edition (1781)
Translation: Johann Jacobssonâs Preface to the Technological Dictionary, 1st Edition (1781)
Translation: Introduction to Georg Lamprechtâs Instruction Book of Technology, 1st Edition (1787)
Part 3: General vs. Historical Technology, circa 1800
Essay: Technologyâs Two Perspectives: the General and the Historical
Translation: Johann Beckmannâs Draft of a General Technology, 1st Edition (1806)
Translation: Preface to Johann Poppeâs History of Technology, 1st Edition (1807)
Translation: General Introduction to Johann Poppeâs History of Technology, 1st Edition (1807)
Bibliography
Index
This work is intended for a broad audience of students and academics interested in the history of technology as it relates to economics, cultural transformations, and philosophical thinking