Speaker
Description
This presentation examines the pivotal intellectual shift in seventeenth-century England, where the burgeoning practice of translating classical texts into the vernacular precipitated a crisis of epistemic authority. While the proliferation of translations in medicine, law, and theology made knowledge more accessible, it also exposed irreconcilable contradictions within the authoritative canon. In response, a generation of thinkers, including Francis Bacon and William Gilbert, called for a fundamental overhaul of scholarly methodology. Focusing on the mid-century, this talk argues that the initial response to this crisis was not a unified "scientific revolution," but a period of vibrant conceptual pluralism. It analyzes the distinct, and often conflicting, programs proposed by key figures: the empirical skepticism of Thomas Browne, the defense of immaterial bodies by Joseph Glanvill, the vitalist materialism of Margaret Cavendish, and the experimentalism of the Royal Society's founders. Despite their differences, these diverse projects were united by a shared imperative to move beyond scholastic dogma. The presentation concludes by exploring how this strategic pluralism, particularly in the early Restoration period under Charles II, served as a crucial negotiating phase. It provided a flexible intellectual space that reconciled competing research programs under a common belief in scientific progress for the "common good", before eventually giving way to the more rigid disciplinary structures of the following century. This analysis highlights the critical role of intellectual diversity in navigating periods of profound epistemological change.
| Keywords | epistemic crisis, scholasticism, intellectual pluralism, experimental philosophy, intellectual history, scientific revolution |
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| geo.shpak@gmail.com |