PERIODS OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITISH PUBLIC SCIENCE Maria G. Mandourari
Jun 18, 2015
PERIODS OF
NINETEENTH-CENTURY
BRITISH PUBLIC SCIENCE
Maria G. Mandourari
The PERIODS OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITISH PUBLIC SCIENCE
The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
The Premier Age of British Public Science
The PERIODS OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY
BRITISH PUBLIC SCIENCE Seminal discoveries
Theoretical achievements
Application of new technology to transportation and manufacture
New physical landscape
Improved quality of everyday material life
The PERIODS OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY
BRITISH PUBLIC SCIENCEA) The First Period:
1800 – 1851 (Great Exhibition)
Public scientists as…
Sir Humphry Davy (17 December 1778 – 29 May 1829) was an English chemist and inventor
Sir David Brewster (11 December 1781 – 10 February 1868) was a
Scottish physicist, mathematician, astronomer,
inventor, writer and university principal
Charles Babbage (26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English
polymath. He was a mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical
engineer, who is best remembered now for originating the concept of a
programmable computer
The importance of science as:
Mode of useful knowledge
Instrument of self-improvement
Aid to profitable, rational and individualistic economic activity
Pillar of natural religion
British Association, in 1851, the astronomer George Airy
"In Science, as well as in almost
everything else, our national
genius inclines us to prefer
voluntary associations of private
persons to organizations of any
kind dependent on the State"
i. Britain's early industrial advance
ii. Gospel of free trade
Utilitarianism*
Natural Religion**
Social attitudes of scientists
* Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes utility, usually defined as maximizing happiness and reducing suffering (Anscombe, G. E. M., ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’ in Philosophy, Vol. 33, No. 124. (Jan., 1958), pp. 12)**Natural religion most frequently means the "religion of nature," in which God, the soul, spirits, and all objects of the supernatural are considered as part of nature and not separate from it.
Emphasized:
a) Self-adjustment of the social mechanism
b) Social problems as matters for technical solution
B) The second period:
mid-1840s - late 1870s
Great Victorian scientific publicists
Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist (comparative anatomist), known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution
John Tyndall (2 August 1820 – 4 December 1893) was a prominent 19th century physicist. His initial scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism
William Kingdon Clifford (4 May 1845 – 3 March 1879) was an English mathematician and philosopher
Evolution
Atomism
Conservation
Clergy
Religion metaphysics
Self-conscious professional scientific community
New material
comfort
Better health and physical well being
Intellectual liberty
Incorporated into the educational system
Social mobility
Early 1870s British scientists:
Independent Professionally Self-defined
community
Little influence in the civic arena.
The state refused to patronize them in a regular fashion
Industry ignored them
Educational system marginally incorporated them
C) The third period:
More civic minded and state-oriented
Values of:
a. Collectivism
b. Nationalism,
c. Military Preparedness
d. Patriotism
e. Political Elitism
f. Social Imperialism
Science:
a. Create & educate better citizens for state service and stable politics
b. Ensure military security & economic efficiency of the nation.
Politicians and manufacturers replaced priests and clergy as the primary
perceived enemy of the progress and application of scientific knowledge