Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T13:06:31.811Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Part II - Science and Epistemology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2013

Eve Grace
Affiliation:
Colorado College
Christopher Kelly
Affiliation:
Boston College, Massachusetts
Get access

Summary

This chapter reassesses the importance of scientific interests and concepts in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's career. It argues that the conventional portrait of Rousseau as a dilettante and critic of science proceeds from a biased view of scientific activity based on the present style of science as a highly specialized activity of professional researchers. When contextualized against the background of the ways and manners of scientific practices in eighteenth-century France, Rousseau can be described as a typical amateur, who participated in a number of scientific networks. As printed culture proliferated during the Enlightenment, a large number of scientific treatises circulated, which claimed to provide elementary notions in mathematics, astronomy, physics, or chemistry in more or less academic or entertaining styles. Finally, the chapter shows that Rousseau's practice of science had a significant impact on his major works.
Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×