The Mindful Hand

The mindful hand 99780-07_The780-07_The MMindfulindful HHand_Voorweriand_Voorweri i 113-09-20073-09-2007 009:39:359:39:35 History of Science and Scholarship in the Netherlands, volume 9 The series History of Science and Scholarship in the Netherlands presents studies on a variety of subjects in the history of science, scholarship and academic institutions in the Netherlands. Titles in this series 1. Rienk Vermij, The Calvinist Copernicans. The reception of the new astronomy in the Dutch Republic, 1575-1750. 2002, isbn 90-6984-340-4 2. Gerhard Wiesenfeldt, Leerer Raum in Minervas Haus. Experimentelle Naturlehre an der Universität Leiden, 1675-1715, 2002, isbn 90-6984-339-0 3. Rina Knoeff, Herman Boerhaave (1668-1738). Calvinist chemist and physician. 2002, isbn 90-6984-342-0 4. Johanna Levelt Sengers, How fl uids unmix. Discoveries by the School of Van der Waals and Kamerlingh Onnes. 2002, isbn 90-6984-357-9 5. Jacques L.R. Touret and Robert P.W. Visser, editors, Dutch pioneers of the earth sciences, 2004, isbn 90-6984-389-7 6. Renée E. Kistemaker, Natalya P. Kopaneva, Debora J. Meijers and Georgy Vilinbakhov, editors, The Paper Museum of the Academy of Sciences in St Peterburg (c. 1725-1760), Introduction and Interpretation, 2005, isbn 90-6984-424-9, isbn dvd 90-6984-425-7, isbn Book and dvd 90-6984-426-5 7. Charles van den Heuvel, ‘De Huysbou’. A reconstruction of an unfi nished treatise on architecture, town planning and civil engineering by Simon Stevin, 2005, isbn 90-6984- 432-x 8. Florike Egmond, Paul Hoftijzer and Robert P.W. Visser, editors, Carolus Clusius. Towards a cultural history of a Renaissance naturalist, 2007, isbn 978-90- 6984-506-7 9. Lissa Roberts, Simon Schaffer, Peter Dear, editors, The mindful hand: inquiry and invention from the late Renaissance to early industrialisation, 2007, isbn 978-90- 6984-483-1 Editorial Board K. van Berkel, University of Groningen W.Th.M. Frijhoff, Free University of Amsterdam A. van Helden, Utrecht University W.E. Krul, University of Groningen A. de Swaan, Amsterdam School of Sociological Research R.P.W. Visser, Utrecht University 99780-07_The780-07_The MMindfulindful HHand_Voorweriiand_Voorwerii iiii 113-09-20073-09-2007 009:39:359:39:35 The mindful hand Inquiry and invention from the late Renaissance to early industrialisation Edited by Lissa Roberts Simon Schaffer Peter Dear Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Amsterdam 2007 99780-07_The780-07_The MMindfulindful HHand_Voorweriiiand_Voorweriii iiiiii 113-09-20073-09-2007 009:39:359:39:35 Copyright © 2007 Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo- copying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Information and orders: Edita knaw P.O. Box 19121, 1000 gc Amsterdam, The Netherlands t + 31 20 551 07 00 f + 31 20 620 49 41 [email protected] www.knaw.nl/edita isbn 978-90-6984-483-1 The paper in this publication meets the requirements of « iso-norm 9706 (1994) for permanence. Illustration cover: The ‘horticultural’ method of drawing an ellipse as illustrated by Van Schooten in La Dioptrique. 99780-07_The780-07_The MMindfulindful HHand_Voorwerivand_Voorweriv iivv 113-09-20073-09-2007 009:39:369:39:36 The hand is the cutting edge of the mind – Jacob Bronowski 99780-07_The780-07_The MMindfulindful HHand_Voorwervand_Voorwerv v 113-09-20073-09-2007 009:39:369:39:36 99780-07_The780-07_The MMindfulindful HHand_Voorwerviand_Voorwervi vvii 113-09-20073-09-2007 009:39:369:39:36 Acknowledgements As initiator of this project, it is my special privilege to thank a number of peo- ple and organisations responsible for helping to bring this work to fruition. I fi rst had the occasion to develop and enunciate the germ of this book’s approach when asked by Pamela H. Smith and Paula Findlen to write an epilogue for their groundbreaking volume Merchants and marvels: commerce, science and art in early-modern Europe (Routledge, 2002). Thanks to both of them for trusting me with such an important task and for giving me the chance to think about the big sweep of early-modern European history. Also fundamentally responsible for getting this project off the ground conceptually are my dear colleagues at the Univer- sity of Twente – including Johan Schot, who has left us for the heavy duties he bears in Eindhoven. This is the group that fi rst pushed me to make good on my offi cial employment as a historian of technology. Slightly to the north in Gron- ingen, Klaas van Berkel worked closely with me as I polished the fi rst grant proposal that materially got this project under way. Without fi nancial support from both the Netherlands Organisation for Scientifi c Research (NWO) and the American National Science Foundation, I would never have had the time or resources to research the background or actually pursue what has become a most rewarding communal effort. It was the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) that awarded me funds and material support for an Akademie Colloquium. Known then under the title ‘Inventive Intersections: sites, artefacts and the rise of modern science and technology,’ the KNAW workshop unfolded as a sumptuous three-day extrava- ganza of intellectual feasting and late night drinking, the most tangible results of which have come to rest between the covers of this book. Not every workshop participant contributed an essay to this volume, but their generous engagement and the substance of their contributions have nonetheless enriched the project greatly. Along with a hearty thanks to the authors whose essays appear in this volume, I must thank Ken Alder, Klaas van Berkel, Paola Bertucci, James Bono, Pascal Brioist, H. Floris Cohen, Michael Dennis, Marc Ratcliff and Larry Stewart. I also thank KNAW staff member Martine Wagenaar, without whose organisational genius the workshop could have never have been such a success. acknowledgements vii 99780-07_The780-07_The MMindfulindful HHand_Voorwerviiand_Voorwervii vviiii 113-09-20073-09-2007 009:39:369:39:36 Since the workshop, Simon Schaffer and Peter Dear have generously donated their time and considerable expertise to help transform three days of intense discussion and delight into a coherent book. They’ve worked hard to help me articulate my vision of this project, which was sometimes as vague as what I see generally without my glasses and put up with any number of pathetically pedantic e-mails from me. Simon deserves extra special thanks for so unselfi shly mentoring me in the name of collegiality. He opened his home and the storehouse of his amazingly considerable knowledge to me on a number of occasions, gently pushing me to make my case – or, thanks to his camaraderie, our case. This book and I owe more to him than to anyone. Finally, for my part, I’d like to dedicate this work to my two fathers. My biological father Morton Roberts provides me with constant inspiration to fi nd the good in every day and every person I meet. My intellectual father Amos Funkenstein had faith and patience enough to invite me long ago on a journey of discovery. Thanks to his example and encouragement, I’ve never stopped scrutinising the arguments that come my way. For that I can never thank him enough. Lissa Roberts November 2006 viii acknowledgements 99780-07_The780-07_The MMindfulindful HHand_Voorwerviiiand_Voorwerviii vviiiiii 113-09-20073-09-2007 009:39:369:39:36 How to read this book This is an ambitious book, composed with a number of purposes and audi- ences in mind. To accommodate these various goals and publics, we would like to propose a number of possible reading strategies. While every reader obviously has their own favourite way of approaching a text, we offer the following advice. For readers who are simply interested in savouring a number of well-crafted essays on the history of natural inquiry and invention – normally spoken of as the history of science and technology – the book can, of course, be opened anywhere. To gain a sense of historical development through time, we suggest that you read the essays in the order that they appear. A primary aim of this volume is to suggest a unifi ed narrative that stretches between the so-called Scientifi c Revolution and the early years of the so-called Industrial Revolution. Our hope is that both historians of science and historians of technology will take the time to consider our argument that the history of inquiry and invention during this extended period is a complex story of complicity between contemplation and manipulation. It is a story that cannot be explained in terms of the causal relationship between theory and practice or – to use anachronistic terms – science and technology. For those who like to approach such claims from the level of empirical detail, we suggest that you skip the book’s preface and go straight to the introductions of our four sections. Read these back-to-back for an overview of the individual topics and themes upon which the volume’s broad historical claims are based. Then fi ll this sketch in by reading the individual essays themselves. In the preface to the entire volume, we bring together a discussion of the book’s historical content and historiographical commitments with its broader, polemical mission. Readers prepared to dive in headfi rst and consider the layered reasons that gave shape to this book, will want to begin here. The message that should then stay with such readers as they subsequently make their way through the volume’s individual essays is three-fold. First, Cartesian dualism does not provide an accurate grid upon which to chart the history of inquiry and invention.

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