What he may seem to the world: Isaac Newton's autograph book epigrams

2020 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-452
Author(s):  
George Gömöri ◽  
Stephen D. Snobelen
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Social Utility ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
The World ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Scholarly Projects

This paper identifies, describes and analyses Isaac Newton's known inscriptions in alba amicorum (autograph books). It begins with an introduction to the early modern autograph book and its social utility for travelling students. Each Newton inscription is contextualized with brief biographies of the individual album owners. The potential reasons for Newton's use of his chosen epigrams are considered, as are possible reflexive dynamics between him and the album owners that may have helped to inform these choices. An allied consideration is the degree to which Newton's epigrams relate to scholarly projects with which he was engaged when he penned them. A special feature is the identification of the owner of an album from which a Newton inscription was stolen more than half a century ago. This study offers a glimpse of Newton's intellectual reputation across several decades, both on the Continent and in his native England. More broadly, this paper makes contributions to our understanding of Newton's personal life and the strategic use of alba amicorum in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries within the Republic of Letters.

“Utopia First!” A Machiavellian Conception of Solidarity in More's Utopia

Moreana ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (Number 209) (1) ◽  
pp. 79-93
Author(s):  
Marie-Claire Phélippeau
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Farm Work ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Difficulties ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Democratic Elections ◽  
Communal Organization

This paper shows how solidarity is one of the founding principles in Thomas More's Utopia (1516). In the fictional republic of Utopia described in Book II, solidarity has a political and a moral function. The principle is at the center of the communal organization of Utopian society, exemplified in a number of practices such as the sharing of farm work, the management of surplus crops, or the democratic elections of the governor and the priests. Not only does solidarity benefit the individual Utopian, but it is a prerequisite to ensure the prosperity of the island of Utopia and its moral preeminence over its neighboring countries. However, a limit to this principle is drawn when the republic of Utopia faces specific social difficulties, and also deals with the rest of the world. In order for the principle of solidarity to function perfectly, it is necessary to apply it exclusively within the island or the republic would be at risk. War is not out of the question then, and compassion does not apply to all human beings. This conception of solidarity, summed up as “Utopia first!,” could be dubbed a Machiavellian strategy, devised to ensure the durability of the republic. We will show how some of the recommendations of Realpolitik made by Machiavelli in The Prince (1532) correspond to the Utopian policy enforced to protect their commonwealth.

The World the Bedouin Lived in: Climate, Migration and Politics in the Early Modern Arab East

2015 ◽  
Vol 58 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 21-55
Author(s):  
Astrid Meier ◽  
Tariq Tell
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Environmental History ◽  
The Past ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Societal Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Marginal Zones

Environmental history provides a perspective from which we can deepen our understanding of the past because it examines the relationships of people with their material surroundings and the effects of those relationships on the individual as well as the societal level. It is a perspective that holds particular promise for the social and political history of arid and marginal zones, as it contributes to our understanding of the reason some groups are more successful than others in coping with the same environmental stresses. Historians working on the early modern Arab East have only recently engaged with the lively field of global environmental history. After presenting a brief overview of some strands of this research, this article illustrates the potential of this approach by looking closely at a series of conflicts involving Bedouin and other power groups in the southern parts of Bilād al-Shām around the middle of the eighteenth century.

Circles of Confidence in Correspondence

Nuncius ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles van den Heuvel ◽  
Scott B. Weingart ◽  
Nils Spelt ◽  
Henk Nellen
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Knowledge Exchange ◽  
Technological Knowledge ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
Religious Conflicts ◽  
Hugo Grotius ◽  
The Republic

Science in the early modern world depended on openness in scholarly communication. On the other hand, a web of commercial, political, and religious conflicts required broad measures of secrecy and confidentiality; similar measures were integral to scholarly rivalries and plagiarism. This paper analyzes confidentiality and secrecy in intellectual and technological knowledge exchange via letters and drawings. We argue that existing approaches to understanding knowledge exchange in early modern Europe – which focus on the Republic of Letters as a unified entity of corresponding scholars – can be improved upon by analyzing multilayered networks of communication. We describe a data model to analyze circles of confidence and cultures of secrecy in intellectual and technological knowledge exchanges. Finally, we discuss the outcomes of a first experiment focusing on the question of how personal and professional/official relationships interact with confidentiality and secrecy, based on a case study of the correspondence of Hugo Grotius.

Modern Biblical Criticism and the Legacy of Pre-Modern Interpretation

2019 ◽  
pp. 703-722
Author(s):  
Michael C. Legaspi
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Biblical Criticism ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Hugo Grotius ◽  
Christian Culture ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Changing Attitudes

Although biblical criticism in the early modern period is often identified with the rejection of tradition, a closer examination reveals a more complex effort to investigate the literal sense while retaining the authority of Christian culture and Antiquity. This chapter traces the development of early modern biblical criticism in relation to changing attitudes toward early Christian interpreters. Focusing on the Republic of Letters and figures such as Erasmus and Hugo Grotius, it also examines the pivotal contribution of French Oratorian Richard Simon. Simon is important not only for his critical histories of biblical literature but also for his articulation of the relation between criticism and traditional authority. Finally, this chapter considers the ways that Simon’s conception of criticism paved the way for academic interpreters in the eighteenth century, notably Johann Salomo Semler.

Was There a Scientific Revolution?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Heilbron
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Scientific Revolution ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
Natural Knowledge ◽  
René Descartes ◽  
Modern Europe ◽  
The Republic

This article asks whether there was a Scientific Revolution (SR) at anytime between 1550 and1800. The label ‘Scientific Revolution’ to indicate a period in the development of natural knowledge in early modern Europe has carved a place in historiography. This article suggests that there was SR, if SR signifies a period of time; perhaps, if it is taken as a metaphor. It illustrates how the deployment of the metaphor to seventeenth-century natural knowledge might be accomplished. It also considers the physics of René Descartes, the influence of Cartesianism throughout the Republic of Letters, and the academies. The metaphor can be useful if it is taken in analogy to a major political revolution. The analogy points to a later onset, and a swifter career, for the SR than is usually prescribed, and shows that Isaac Newton was its counter rather than its culmination.

Court, Salon and Republic of Letters

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Randall
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
Political World ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The World ◽  
The Republic ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Ideal

The humanist educational project to educate the elite of Western Europe produced as one of its dizzy successes the application of conversation to the speech and behavior of nobleman at court. This, the development of the ideal of the courtier, took conversation from the leisurely retreat from the ancient political world to the courtly heart of the Renaissance political world. The salons of seventeenth-century France further transformed the conversational tradition of the court: in principle, the conversation of the salons began quietly to set itself to rival the world of oratory, to address itself to the same worldly subject matter. The Republic of Letters provided an alternate social matrix for sermo, scholarly rather than courtly—and one which migrated away from its Ciceronian roots towards the mode of Baylean critique. Where the courtly and scholarly traditions of sermo acted as complementary modes during the Renaissance, the increasing scope of salonnier conversation and the increasing abandonment of sermo by the Republic of Letters set them at odds with one another in the opening of the Enlightenment. Both now harbored universalizing ambitions, which would set these sibling modes to fierce conflict.

The German Language in the International Cultural Space

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3-2) ◽  
pp. 314-336
Author(s):  
Galina Vasilyeva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
German Language ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Historical Aspect ◽  
Federal States ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The World ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Individual

The author considers the factors, which determine interest to the German language in different regions of the world. The object of research is the role of the German language in international sociocultural contacts and the humanitarian sphere development, in the world educational space formation. The subject matter is practical experience of mastering the German language, linguistic achievements and problems of specific nations in this area. The author considers practical application of the German language in the language policy of several countries, studies intercultural interaction difficulties, analyses international research projects in ethno-social dynamics. The goal of the research determined the tasks: to present a socio-anthropological approach to the consideration of the language situation in the countries, to comment on the institutional aspects of the German language dissemination, to substantiate the multilingualism significance as a tool of intercultural education. The chronological framework of the study covers the first decades of the XXI century. At the same time, if we consider the problem in a historical aspect, we will inevitably turn to the earlier periods. A systematic approach allows us to establish a logical relationship and interdependence of these periods, traces changes in the status of the official language in Germany. This issue is not only linguistic, but also historical and cultural. The author analyzes the problems of the ethnolinguistic situation associated with the study of the German language in a number of countries: among them, the United Kingdom, in which other languages (but English) have a lesser degree of social prestige and are being squeezed out of the language space. The French Republic, along with the Federal Republic of Germany, as the leader of Europe, has always been on the axis of European construction. The country continues the policy of promoting internationalization of the French language. At the same time, Francophonie is a movement for cultural diversity. The Kingdom of Belgium and the Swiss Confederation are related to Germany in institutional architecture. It is necessary to study the situation in these ethnically heterogeneous and multilingual federal states, where German is one of the official languages. The author appeals to the history of Spain and the Republic of Korea because the citizens of these countries participated in the reconstruction of Germany after the Second World War. Issues related to the individual linguistic rights implementation determine national and political processes, educational and cultural policies. Learning several languages forms the idea that a multilingual society is the standard model of communication.

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