Negotiating the 'Physiological Turn'
Re-Defining the Scottish Enlightenment, the Body, andPractical Philosophy in Scotland, 1820-1860
- Editore:
VDM Verlag
- EAN:
9783639109733
- ISBN:
3639109732
- Pagine:
- 192
- Formato:
- Paperback
- Lingua:
- Tedesco
Descrizione Negotiating the 'Physiological Turn'
In early nineteenth century Scotland, authors ofpractical philosophies expressed as passionate aninterest in philosophical enquiries as theirpredecessors of the Enlightenment. The intensity oftheir quest for knowledge also testified of a newattitude towards it. In their diaries,pamphlets, books, and other writings, they tied anintimate relation to knowledge which, they explained,led them to feverish attempts at experiencing it. Thephrenologist George Combe, the natural scientistDavid Brewster, the geologist Hugh Miller, allbelonged to this movement and they expressed a levelof intimacy with knowledge that fundamentally changedtheir understanding of it. Knowledge was something tobe experienced and also, ultimately, something underwhich the philosopher was to develop a new sense ofsubjection. This led one contemporary writer toexplain this epistemological change as thenegotiation of a 'physiological turn' in Scottishphilosophy. The aim of this book is to illustrate anddescribe the process of this physiological turn usinga variety of sources and writings. It is acontribution towards cultural history in Scotland andthe history of the Scottish Enlightenment.
