1996/01/01 by Mario Biagioli · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Rousseau and Enlightenment Thought #Historical Philosophy and Science #History of Science and Medicine
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/448789
The establishment of scientific academies in Italy, England, and France in the seventeenth century was paralleled by discussions about the polite protocols academicians should follow in presenting, assessing, or publishing claims about nature. Because these institutions produced knowledge through a sharing of evidence and a collective witnessing or evaluation of reports and experiments, impoliteness threatened the very conditions of possibility of that kind of knowledge. Also, good philosophical manners were central to maintaining the academies' relationship to their princely patrons-a relationship that might have been negatively affected, for instance, by the academicians' publication of contentious claims and by the controversies that might have ensued.' This was a serious matter as princes provided academies with authority, not just financial support.