The limits of matter
Subtitle: chemistry, mining, and Enlightenment
By: Hjalmar Fors
Series: Synthesis; Synthesis (University of Chicago. Press)
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 241
ISBN-13: 9780226194998; 9780226195049
Subjects: Mining; Enlightenment; Matter; History; Philosophy; Materia; Kemi; Mining engineering; Historia; Engineering; Chemistry; Upplysningsfilosofi; Gruvbrytning
Description: This is a book about how the modern notion of materiality was established during the period c. 1680-1760. It studies what natural philosophers engaged in chemistry and mineralogy said about phenomena such as witchcraft, trolls and subtle matters, and relates this discourse to their innovations in matter theory. In this way it takes the debate about Enlightenment, which has mostly been confined to fields such as the history of philosophy, theology and physics, into a new arena.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages [157]-219) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction:; title: The edges of the map --; title: Of witches, trolls, and inquisitive men --; title: Chymists in the mining business --; title: From curious to ingenious knowledge --; title: Elements of enlightenment --; title: Capturing the laughing gnome -- -- Conclusion:; title: material reality and the Enlightenment.