ISBN: HB: 9780300227413
February 2018
312 pp.
23,5x15,6 cm
37 black&white illus.
HB:
40.00 GBP
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Artisanal Enlightenment
Science and the Mechanical Arts in Old Regime France
What would the Enlightenment look like from the perspective of artistes, the learned artisans with esprit, who presented themselves in contrast to philosophers, savants, and routine-bound craftsmen? Making a radical change of historical protagonists, Paola Bertucci places the mechanical arts and the world of making at the heart of the Enlightenment. At a time of great colonial, commercial, and imperial concerns, artistes planned encyclopedic projects and sought an official role in the administration of the French state. The "Societe des Arts", which they envisioned as a state institution that would foster France's colonial and economic expansion, was the most ambitious expression of their collective aspirations.
"Artisanal Enlightenment" provides the first in-depth study of the "Societe", and demonstrates its legacy in scientific programs, academies, and the making of Diderot and D'Alembert's "Encyclopedie". Through insightful analysis of textual, visual, and material sources, Bertucci provides a groundbreaking perspective on the politics of writing on the mechanical arts and the development of key Enlightenment concepts such as improvement, utility, and progress.
"Artisanal Enlightenment" provides the first in-depth study of the "Societe", and demonstrates its legacy in scientific programs, academies, and the making of Diderot and D'Alembert's "Encyclopedie". Through insightful analysis of textual, visual, and material sources, Bertucci provides a groundbreaking perspective on the politics of writing on the mechanical arts and the development of key Enlightenment concepts such as improvement, utility, and progress.
About the author
Paola Bertucci is associate professor of history at Yale University. She has published extensively on the public culture of science in eighteenth-century Europe, and is the author of prize-winning essays on secrecy, selective visibility, and industrial travel in the Enlightenment.