CfP: Special issue of Transversal on the historiography of the Scientific Revolution
We are pleased to announce a Call for Papers a special issue of Transversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science (ISSN:
2526-2270) dedicated to the topic “Theses on the Scientific Revolution:
a historiographical reappraisal of the origins of modern science”. The
publication is planned for December 2019.
Since
the 1930s a whole series of innovations which transformed mechanical
arts and natural philosophy of the 16th and 17th century into modern
natural sciences was subsumed under the label of “the Scientific
Revolution”. The term soon gained considerable popularity due to the
works of A. Koyré, H. Butterfield, A. R. Hall, M. Boas Hall and many
other historians of early modern science. They tried to provide an
account to the Scientific Revolution e. g. in terms of the
“mathematization of nature”, the “rise of artisanal knowledge”, or the
“influence of the magical perception of reality”.
In
the early 1960s, this traditional historiography was further
legitimated by the epistemological concept of “scientific revolutions”
developed by Th. Kuhn. The Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th
century became a classic example of scientific change, as it was
conceptualized by the author of The Structure of Scientific Revolution.
However, in the last decades the very existence of the Scientific
Revolution as a historical phenomenon has been called into question.
Some authors argue that this concept was just one way to give an
intelligible account to our understanding of scientific development that
must itself be historicized.
The main target
of this special issue is a re-evaluation of the earlier conceptions that
regarded the Scientific Revolution as a key concept for a systematic
understanding of modern science as a whole. We would like to put into
the focus (re-read and compare) the theses on the Scientific Revolution
proposed by authors like Burtt, Koyré, Dijksterhuis, Hessen, Zilsel,
Merton, but also Husserl, Heidegger and many others who tried to
demonstrate the essential role of science in the construction of
modernity. These authors offered an image of science as a holistic
enterprise that is in many different dimensions connected to
metaphysical, social, cultural and economic perspectives. At the same
moment, these thinkers understood science as a central and even unifying
element of modern culture. Retracing their steps, we would like to
answer the question of whether the “scientific revolution” is this still
a useful concept to understand modern science and its development.
We
are expecting to receive submissions related to these authors or to
their reception in subsequent historiography. Comparative analysis
between them as well as with other authors is welcome. Our main focus
will be the consideration of the philosophical and sociological aspects
of the approaches offered by this group of authors, so that articles
written from the point of view of philosophy and sociology of science
are our main focus. However, we will also consider historical analyses
on disciplinary aspects of the “scientific revolution” or on major
historical figures as well.
Submission details:
Submission must be received by September 2nd, 2019 via the webpage of the journal www.historiographyofscience.