{"id":1157,"date":"2011-05-23T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2011-05-22T21:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/?p=1157"},"modified":"2012-09-25T02:08:42","modified_gmt":"2012-09-24T14:08:42","slug":"images-experimental-philosophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/images-experimental-philosophy\/","title":{"rendered":"Images of Experimental Philosophy (and a request for help!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kirsten Walsh writes…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the last few weeks, we have been organizing a rare book exhibition* on the history of experimental philosophy.\u00a0 It has been a privilege to handle dozens of antique books such as a 2nd<\/sup> edition of Newton\u2019s Principia<\/em><\/a>, Bacon\u2019s Opuscula<\/em><\/a> and Kepler\u2019s Epitome<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 One of the striking features of early modern books is their ornate frontispieces and detailed illustrations.\u00a0 They give the impression that publishers spent a lot of money to acquire and print these images.\u00a0 This got us thinking about what images really capture the spirit of the experimental philosophy.\u00a0 So this week, we thought we’d do a special post on images of experimental philosophy.<\/p>\n

One of my favourite images is Wright\u2019s 1768 \u2018An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump\u2019<\/a>.\u00a0 It combines several aspects of the 18th<\/sup> century scientific pursuit: the experimenter as a \u2018show man\u2019, natural philosophy as \u2018family entertainment\u2019, and Boyle\u2019s air pump centre stage.\u00a0 If you want to see some of the experiments that Wright’s subjects might have seen, have a look at the video on air pressure over at Discovering Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Wright

Wright (1768), 'An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump'<\/p><\/div>\n

Another wonderful image is Stradanus’ (1580), ‘Lapis Polaris Magnes’, also known as ‘The Philosopher in his Chamber Studying a Lodestone’.<\/p>\n

    “the scholar in his study is surrounded by the new instruments of navigation, drafting, and surveying. An armillary sphere, a compass, an octant, several books, and other measuring tools sit on the table at left. In the left foreground, a lodestone floats on a raft of wood in a wine cooler. The model galleon suspended from the ceiling contrasts to the single-masted, oared Mediterranean vessel that can be seen through the window. The juxtaposition of instruments and books on the scholar’s desk indicates the coming together of the hitherto generally separate traditions of practice and theory. Out of their union, the new experimental philosophy emerged.”\u00a0 (From Experience and Experiment in Early Modern Europe<\/a>.)<\/ol>\n
    \"(1580),

    Stradanus (1580), \u2018Lapis Polaris Magnes\u2019<\/p><\/div>\n

    Another gallon is represented in the frontispice of Bacon’s De augmentis<\/em>.\u00a0 It has passed through the Pillars of Hercules<\/a>, venturing into the unknown and increasing our knowledge.\u00a0 The line beneath the ship explains: “Many shall pass through and learning shall be increased” (“Multi pertransibunt & augebitur scientia”).\u00a0 How shall learning be increased?\u00a0 By overcoming a series of oppositions: between reason and experience (the motto at the top reads “Reason and Experience have been allied together”); between the visible world and the intelligible world (the two globes at the top); between science and philosophy (the two terms at the bottom of the pillars); and even between Oxford and Cambridge (“Oxonium” and “Cantabrigia”)!<\/p>\n

    \"Bacon

    Bacon (1640), 'De Augmentis Scientiarum'<\/p><\/div>\n

    The frontispiece to Voltaire’s (1738) Elemens<\/em><\/a> is not a good representation of the experimental philosophy, but it is a lovely illustration. Voltaire sits at his desk, translating Newton’s Principia<\/em>.\u00a0 Heavenly light seems to come from Newton himself, representing his divine inspiration.\u00a0 The light is reflected downwards to illuminate Voltaire’s work by Voltaire’s lover and muse \u00c9milie du Ch\u00e2telet (but it was really she who translated Principia<\/em> and helped Voltaire to make sense of the work).<\/p>\n

    \"Voltaire

    Voltaire (1738), 'Elemens de la philosophie de Neuton'<\/p><\/div>\n

    West’s (1816) painting depicts Benjamin Franklin’s famous (or infamous) kite experiment.\u00a0 In 1752, Franklin flew a kite in a storm to demonstrate that lightning is a form of electricity.\u00a0 He almost electrocuted himself!<\/p>\n

      “As soon as any of the thunder clouds come over the kite, the pointed wire will draw the electric fire from them, and the kite, with all the twine, will be electrified, and the loose filaments of the twine, will stand out every way, and be attracted by an approaching finger. And when the rain has wetted the kite and twine, so that it can conduct the electric fire freely, you will find it stream out plentifully from the key on the approach of your knuckle. At this key the phial may be charged: and from electric fire thus obtained, spirits may be kindled, and all the other electric experiments be performed, which are usually done by the help of a rubbed glass globe or tube, and thereby the sameness of the electric matter with that of lightning completely demonstrated.” (Written by Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, October 19, 1752.)<\/ol>\n

      You can read more about Franklin’s work on electricity at Skulls in the Stars<\/a>.<\/p>\n

      \"Painting

      West (1816), 'Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky'<\/p><\/div>\n

      Many of the books we looked at contain beautiful illustrations of instruments and experiments.\u00a0 These nicely capture the experimental natural<\/em> philosophy.<\/p>\n

      \"Adams

      Adams (1787), 'Essays on the Microscope'<\/p><\/div>\n

      \"Boyle

      Boyle (1744), 'The Works of the Honourable Robert Boyle in five volumes'<\/p><\/div>\n

      \n

      \"Hooke

      Hooke (1665), 'Micrographia'<\/p><\/div>\n

      \"(1616)

      Swanenburgh (1616) 'Comfortable Bones, the Skeletons of Adam and Eve'<\/p><\/div>\n

      But we claim<\/a> that experimental philosophy went beyond<\/em> natural philosophy.\u00a0 Are there any images that capture its wider application?<\/p>\n

      Finally, I couldn\u2019t resist adding the burning arm chair, which has special significance for our team: it is at once both a nice image of the shift from speculative to experimental philosophy, and a nod to the local \u2018scarfie\u2019 (Otago undergraduate) population of Dunedin.\u00a0 A favourite pastime for scarfies, here in Dunedin, is to burn couches outside their houses!<\/p>\n

      \"Burning

      Burning the proverbial 'Philosopher's Armchair'<\/p><\/div>\n

      We’re looking for an image for our exhibition poster, and we’d like your help.\u00a0 Have you seen an image that captures the spirit of early modern experimental philosophy?\u00a0 We’d love to hear from you.\u00a0 (We’re giving away a one-year subscription to our blog for the reader who provides the best image!)<\/p>\n

      *The exhibition will be at the Special Collections, Central Library, University of Otago in Dunedin.\u00a0 It will open in early July at the annual conference<\/a> of the Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP).\u00a0 So don’t forget to have a look at it, if you are coming to Dunedin in July.\u00a0 For those who cannot come, don’t miss the online version of the exhibition.\u00a0 We’ll be sure to let you know as soon as it is available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Kirsten Walsh writes… Over the last few weeks, we have been organizing a rare book exhibition* on the history of experimental philosophy.\u00a0 It has been a privilege to handle dozens of antique books such as a 2nd edition of Newton\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4582,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[113],"tags":[246,276,226],"class_list":["post-1157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ideas","tag-bacon","tag-experiment","tag-experimental-philosophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4582"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/emxphi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}