Synopses & Reviews
Traditional accounts of the scientific revolution focus on such thinkers as Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, and usually portray it as a process of steady, rational progress. There is another side to this story, and its protagonists are more likely to be women than men, dilettante aristocrats than highly educated natural philosophers. The setting is not the laboratory, but rather the literary salons of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France, and the action takes place sometime between Europes last great witch hunts and the emergence of the modern world.Science for a Polite Society is an intriguing reexamination of the social, cultural, and intellectual context of the origins of modern science. The elite of French society accepted science largely because of their personal involvement and fascination with the emerging philosophy of nature. Members of salon society, especially women, were avid readers of works of natural philosophy and active participants in experiments for the edification of their peers. Some of these women went on to champion the new science and played a significant role in securing its acceptance by polite society.As Geoffrey Sutton points out, the sheer entertainment value of startling displays of electricity and chemical explosions would have played an important role in persuading the skeptical. We can only imagine the effects of such drawing-room experiments on an audience that lived in a world illuminated by tallow candles. For many, leaping electrical arcs and window-rattling detonations must have been as convincing as Newtons mathematically elegant description of the motions of the planets.With the acceptance and triumph of the new science came a prestige that made it a model of what rationality should be. The Enlightenment adopted the methods of scientific thought as the model for human progress. To be an enlightened” thinker meant believing that the application of scientific methods could reform political and economic life, to the lasting benefit of humanity. We live with the ambiguous results of that legacy even today, although in our own century we are perhaps more impressed by the ability of science to frighten, rather than to awe and entertain.
Synopsis
An entertaining look at how science really came to be accepted in place of magic and myth -- and the major role that women played in popularizing science during the Enlightenment.
The past is another country, but scientific tourists visiting the Enlightenment have a wonderful new guidebook in Science for a Polite Society. In refreshing contrast to traditional histories about theoretical debates between male scientists, this lively narrative conveys the excitement shared by women and men researchers during the 17th and 18th centuries. New Scientist
It is truly a rare event when someone can produce a new and important view of the rise of modern science. Geoffrey Sutton does just this by revealing the importance of salon society, amusement, and spectacle in the development of science in seventeenth and eighteenth century France. Science for a Polite Society is an important addition to our knowledge and presents quite a different picture from the one we have known.
Bernard Cohen Harvard University
Science for a Polite Society is an intriguing reexamination of the social, cultural, and intellectual context of the origins of modern science, based on lively look at the hidden history of the early years of modern science.
The elite of French society were avid readers of works of natural philosophy and active participants in experiments conducted largely for the amusement of their peers. Sutton points out that the sheer entertainment value of startling displays of electricity and chemical explosions would have played an important role in persuading the skeptical. We can only imagine the effects of such experiments on an audience that lived in a world illuminated by tallowcandles. For many, leaping electrical arcs and window-rattling detonations were far more convincing of the legitimacy of modern science than Newton's mathematically elegant proofs.
Synopsis
Science for a Polite Society is an intriguing reexamination of the social, cultural, and intellectual context of the origins of modern science. Focusing on how elite salon society of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France played a pivotal role in the acceptance of the new science, Geoffrey Sutton paints a vivid picture of drawing-room experiments that persuaded the skeptical to believe through leaping electrical arcs and chemical explosions. Aristocratic women, as well as men, pursued the wonders of scientific exploration and were among the strongest proponents of its worth to society.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 375-381) ) and index.
About the Author
Geoffrey V. Sutton teaches at Macalester College.