« Very much in the dark about light » : Franklin, lumières et critiques
This essay discusses a critical account of Benjamin Franklin’s experiments with electricity published anonymously in London in 1777. The fundamental question raised was whether Franklin’s famous experiments constituted legitimate natural philosophy in the tradition of Isaac Newton. This dim view of...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Association Française d'Etudes Américaines
2009-12-01
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| Series: | Transatlantica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/4411 |
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| Summary: | This essay discusses a critical account of Benjamin Franklin’s experiments with electricity published anonymously in London in 1777. The fundamental question raised was whether Franklin’s famous experiments constituted legitimate natural philosophy in the tradition of Isaac Newton. This dim view of Franklinist enlightenment is linked to the conflicts of the American Revolution, social anxieties about mechanical ingenuity, and geographical hierarchies of knowledge-making. It is argued that debates over the legitimacy of the proper character of natural philosophy that addressed Franklinist science were also debates over the social, political and geographical constitution of authority. |
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| ISSN: | 1765-2766 |