The living rock : natural, human, and sacred histories of the earth, 1680-1740
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The dissertation charts the birth of earth history as a new field of knowledge in the early Enlightenment. In early modern Europe, the earth was a simultaneous subject for natural, sacred, and human history. The capacious, contentious new field of inquiry which arose around this unstable object 'Earth' in the late seventeenth century was characterized by exuberant syncretism and fierce debate. Savants across the Republic of Letters drew on multiple areas of learning and culture--including antiquarianism, the life sciences, political economy, and Protestant and Catholic theology and faith--in order to better understand the planet's past and future, its fertility and vitality, and national and human origins. Eventually, the earth's history became the subject of a field of specifically natural--rather than sacred or humanistic--knowledge. This controversial and surprising development was a function of the emergence of a multi-confessional and international conversation about the earth; increasingly sharp distinctions between disciplines, pursuits and professions in the Enlightenment; and transformations in the very meaning of 'Nature' and 'history.'.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2011 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Barnett, Lydia R |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of History. |
| Primary advisor | Findlen, Paula |
| Primary advisor | Riskin, Jessica |
| Thesis advisor | Findlen, Paula |
| Thesis advisor | Riskin, Jessica |
| Thesis advisor | Como, David R, 1970- |
| Thesis advisor | Proctor, Robert, 1954- |
| Advisor | Como, David R, 1970- |
| Advisor | Proctor, Robert, 1954- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Lydia Ruth Barnett. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of History. |
| Thesis | Ph.D. Stanford University 2011 |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2011 by Lydia R. Barnett
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