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Key research themes
1. How did knowledge production and organizational practices shape early modern scientific inquiry beyond disciplinary boundaries?
This theme focuses on the methodologies and practices of knowledge production, collection, organization, and exchange in early modern Europe, emphasizing how these transcended traditional disciplinary boundaries. It expands the narrative of early modern science by investigating archives and related epistemic infrastructures as shared tools across diverse fields such as politics, natural philosophy, history, and law, thereby reconceptualizing scientific inquiry as part of broader cultures of learning and practice.
Key finding: The paper documents evolving translation norms in the natural sciences from the 16th to 18th centuries in France, demonstrating a shift from preserving authoritative classical voices to critical scientific translations where... Read more
Key finding: Through detailed studies of Isaac Beeckman’s practical engagements—optical experimentation, vernacular knowledge, and artisanal interactions—the paper challenges dominant narratives that frame early modern science exclusively... Read more
2. What were the evolving roles of instruments and observational practices in shaping early modern scientific knowledge?
Research under this theme investigates the influence of scientific instruments such as microscopes, telescopes, and optics on early modern understandings of nature. It addresses epistemological questions about the validation of sensory evidence—especially vision—by examining shifts in how observational practices were established, debated, and communicated across scientific communities. This theme also explores how debates about tools and observation reflected changing scientific methodologies, conceptual frameworks, and disciplinary boundaries.
Key finding: This paper uncovers the paradox of seventeenth-century microscopy’s rise and fall, correlating its popularity with corpuscularianism’s fortunes. It finds that microscopy initially gained traction when framed as a tool... Read more
Key finding: This analysis shows how Thomas Hobbes, inspired by Descartes’ Dioptrique, developed an optical theory naturalizing vision as a purely physical process involving light and motion, rejecting traditional notions of ‘species’ or... Read more
Key finding: This work highlights the historical transformation from Neoplatonic intellectual traditions that privileged inner contemplation to early modern science’s emphasis on sensory observation and illustration. It argues that the... Read more
3. How did early modern scientific thought integrate and contest ancient and mythical knowledge within natural philosophy?
This research area examines the negotiation between ancient mythologies, philosophical traditions, and emerging empirical sciences in the early modern period. It considers how early modern scholars re-evaluated ancient authorities and mythical creatures, integrating, contesting, or re-interpreting these sources within natural philosophy and sciences like botany, zoology, and atomism. The theme sheds light on early modern epistemic tensions and the gradual redefinition of scientific rationality against the backdrop of classical heritage.
Key finding: The article traces five centuries of debate about the satyr, showing how early modern natural historians alternately identified it as a misobserved ape or maintained its mythological reality. It demonstrates that such debates... Read more
Key finding: This study reconstructs the 17th-century atomistic theory proposed by Magnen, showing his explicit break with Aristotelian prime matter by reviving Democritean atomism. It highlights Magnen's nuanced engagement with... Read more
Key finding: This review essay examines Descartes’ and More’s mid-17th-century correspondence, which forced Descartes to articulate and defend his dualistic metaphysics concerning bodies and spirits. The letters reveal early modern... Read more