Science in the Public Sphere: Natural Knowledge in British Culture 1800-1860 (Variorum Collected Studies) Book

The common focus of the essays in this book is the debate on the nature of science - often referred to as "natural knowledge" - in Britain during the first half of the 19th century. Questions about the nature of science were part of a public debate that included the following topics: scientific method and intellectual authority, the moral demeanour of the man of science, the hierarchy of specialised scientific disciplines and the relation with natural theology. These topics were discussed both within scientific circles - in correspondence and meetings of socieities - as well as in the wider public sphere constituted by quarterly jounals and encyclopaedias. A study of these debates shows how British science of the period began to cast off some of its earlier theological supports, but still relied on a moral framework to affirm its distinctive method, ethos and cultural value.Read More