Preview

Discourse

Advanced search

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING SECRET (OPENNESS VS. SECRECY IN SCIENCE OF THE EPOCH OF INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTION OF XVI-XVII cc.)

https://doi.org/10.32603/2412-8562-2016-0-5-3-12

Abstract

Traditional historiography of science has constructed secrecy in opposition to openness. It is demonstrated that openness and secrecy are often interlocked. Focusing on the early modern period, two cases are introduced that are difficult to analyze with a simple oppositional understanding of openness and secrecy: 1) Isaac Newton’s refusal to publish his method of series and fluxions, and 2) the tensions within the Royal Society, between the ideal of openness and the practical need for secrecy. In these cases the dynamic of access and control cannot straightforwardly be classified in a dichotomy «open - secretive».

About the Author

I. S. Dmitriev
Saint Petersburg State University
Russian Federation


References

1. Boyle R. Of the Incalescence of Quicksilver with Gold // Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 1676. Vol. 10. P. 515-583.

2. The Correspondence of Isaac Newton. In 7 vols / ed. by H. W. Turnbull, J. P. Scott, A. R. Hall, L. Tilling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959-1977. Vol. 2: 1676-1687 (1960).

3. Long P. Openness, Secrecy, Authorship: Technical Arts and the Culture of Knowledge from Antiquity to the Renaissance. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

4. Love H. Scribal Publication in Seventeenth-Century England. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.

5. The Correspondence of Isaac Newton. In 7 vols / ed. by H. W. Turnbull, J. P. Scott, A. R. Hall, L. Tilling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959-1977. Vol. 7.

6. D. Gregory, I. Newton, T. Circle. Extracts from David Gregory's Memoranda. 1677-1708 / еd. by W. G. Hiscock. Oxford: Printed for the editor, 1937.

7. The Mathematical Papers of Isaac Newton / ed. by D. T. Whiteside with the assistance in publication of M. A. Hoskin, A. Prag. In 8 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967-1981. Vol. 3: 1670-1673 (1969).

8. The Mathematical Papers of Isaac Newton / ed. by D. T. Whiteside with the assistance in publication of M. A. Hoskin, A. Prag. In 8 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967-1981. Vol. 7: 1691-1695 (1976).

9. The Mathematical Papers of Isaac Newton / ed. by D. T. Whiteside with the assistance in publication of M. A. Hoskin, A. Prag. In 8 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967-1981. Vol. 5: 1683-1684 (1972).

10. Pemberton H. View of Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophy. Dublin: reprinted by and for J. Hyde, J. Smith, W. Bruce. 1728. Preface (s/p).

11. Ньютон И. Математические начала натуральной философии / пер. с латин. и коммент. А. Н. Крылова; под ред. и предисл. Л. С. Полак. М.: Наука, 1989.

12. Lagrange J.-L. Mecanique analytique. Paris: Chez la Veuve Desaint, Libraire, 1788. P. VI.

13. Бэкон Ф. Приготовление к естественной и экспериментальной истории, или план естественной и экспериментальной истории, способной служить надлежащим основанием и базой истинной философии // Соч. в 2 т. 2-е изд., испр. и доп.; сост., общ. ред., вступ. ст. А. Л. Субботиной (Сер. ≪Философское наследие≫). М.: Мысль, 1977-1978. Т. 2. С. 215-229.

14. Sargent R.-M. Bacon as an advocate for cooperative scientific research / ed. M. Peltonen // The Cambridge Companion to Bacon. Cambr. Univer. Press, 1996. P. 146-171.

15. Dear P. Totius in Verba: Rhetoric and Authority in the Early Royal Society // Isis. 1985. Vol. 76. P. 145-161.

16. Sprat Th. The History of the Royal Society of London, for the Improving of Natural Knowledge. London: Printed by T. R. for J. Martyn at the Bell, 1667.

17. Hacking I. The Emergence of Probability. Cambridge: Cambr. Univer. press, 1975.

18. Boyle R. A Letter concerning Ambergris // Boyle R. The Works of the Honourable Robert Boyle: in 6 vols / ed. Th. Birth. London: J. & F. Rivington, 1772. Vol. 3. P. 731-732.

19. Weld Ch. R. A History of the Royal Society, with Memoirs of the Presidents. Comp. from authentic documents: in 2 vols. London: J. W. Parker, 1848. Vol. 2.

20. Schaffer S. Making Certain. Essay review of Barbara J. Shapiro. Probability and Certainty in Seventeenth-Century England // Soc. Studies of Science, 1984. Vol. 14. P. 137-152.

21. The Correspondence of Robert Boyle: in 6 vols / ed. M. Hunter, A. Clericuzio, L. M. P.; principal translators D. Money, T. Bridgeman; principal ed. assistants B. Coates, R. Davies, S. Pennell. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2001. Vol. 1: 1636-1661, Introduction.

22. Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance / ed. by L. Schiebinger, R. N. Proctor. Stanford: Stanford Univer. Press, 2008.


Review

For citations:


Dmitriev I.S. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING SECRET (OPENNESS VS. SECRECY IN SCIENCE OF THE EPOCH OF INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTION OF XVI-XVII cc.). Discourse. 2016;(5):3-12. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.32603/2412-8562-2016-0-5-3-12

Views: 182


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.


ISSN 2412-8562 (Print)
ISSN 2658-7777 (Online)