Science as Child’s Play in Seventeenth-Century England
Springer International Publishing (Verlag)
978-3-031-75848-5 (ISBN)
In recent decades, scholars have uncovered the vital contributions made by non-elite figures, including women, artisans, and indigenous peoples, to the development of early modern natural philosophy. This Palgrave Pivot argues that children, too, quite literally played a decisive role in seventeenth-century experimental science in England, both as rhetorical exemplars, and as active contributors in the generation of natural knowledge. Exploring a widespread but critically-neglected connection between experiment and child's play, it both illuminates the extent to which children participated - intentionally or incidentally - in natural historical and experimental activities, and investigates how ideas about childish innocence and sensory receptivity informed the nascent ideology of scientific objectivity. In the work of figures associated with the early Royal Society, this book proposes, children emerge as instinctive empiricists and experimenters, setting in motion a broader cultural transformation in ideas about childhood and education which still shapes how we think about these things today.
Elizabeth L. Swann is Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Literary Studies at Durham University, UK.
1. Introduction: 'No babes, but strong men'?.- 2. 'Flesh most fluid': Children's Senses.- 3. 'Too young to be dogmaticall': Innocence and Objectivity.- 4. Nature's A.B.C. and the 'Toyish Art' of the Microscope.- 5. Bubbles, Popguns, Lizard's Tails: Play as Experiment.- 6. 'A compendious way to Experience: Innocence Regained'.- 7. Conclusion.
Elizabeth Swann s engaging short book Science as Child s Play in Seventeenth-Century England makes a valuable contribution to ongoing conversations about play and knowledge making in the early modern past. (Kelly J. Whitmer, History of Education, December 3, 2025)
| Erscheinungsdatum | 01.02.2025 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | XIII, 144 p. 7 illus. |
| Verlagsort | Cham |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 148 x 210 mm |
| Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte |
| Naturwissenschaften | |
| Schlagworte | Early Science • History of childhood • history of experience • History of the Senses • Natural Philosophy • Renaissance |
| ISBN-10 | 3-031-75848-X / 303175848X |
| ISBN-13 | 978-3-031-75848-5 / 9783031758485 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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