Samuel Hartlib and Universal Reformation: Studies in Intellectual Communication

by Mark Greengrass (Editor), Michael Leslie (Editor), Timothy Raylor (Editor)

Overview

In the crucible of intellectual change that took place in the seventeenth century, the role of Samuel Hartlib was of immense significance. Hartlib (originally from Elbing) settled in England permanently from the late 1620s until his death in 1662. His aspirations formed a distinctive and influential strand in English intellectual life during those revolutionary decades. This volume reflects the variety of the theoretical and practical interests of Hartlib's circle and presents them in their continental context.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521452526
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/01/1994
Pages:	394
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.02(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction Mark Greengrass, Michael Leslie and Timothy Raylor; Part I. The Cultivation of Mind and Soul: 1. Philosophical pedagogy in reformed central Europe between Ramus and Comenius Howard Horson; 2. In search of 'The True Logick' Stephen Clucas; 3. Comenius and his ideals Dagmar Capkova; 4. 'The unchanged peacemaker'? John Dury and the politics of irenicism in England, 1628–1643 Anthony Milton; 5. Hartlib, Dury and the Jews Richard Popkin; 6. Millenarianism and the new science: the case of Robert Boyle Malcolm Oster; Part II. The Communication of Knowledge: 7. Closed and open languages: Samuel Hartlib's involvement with cryptology and universal languages Gerhard Strasser; 8. Language as the product and the mediator of knowledge: the concept of J. A. Comenius Jana Privratska and Vladimir Privratsky; 9. Milton among the monopolists: Areopagitica, intellectual property and the Hartlib circle Kevin Dunn; 10. George Starkey and the selling of secrets William Newman; Part III. The Improvement of Nature and Society: 11. Benjamin Worsley: engineering for universal reform from the Invisible College to the Navigation Act Charles Webster; 12. New light on Benjamin Worsley's natural philosophy Antonio Clericuzio; 13. 'These 2 hundred years not the like published as Gellibrand has done de Magnete': the Hartlib circle and magnetic philosophy Stephen Pumfrey; 14. Technology transfer and scientific specialization: Johann Wiesel, optician of Augsburg, and the Hartlib circle Inge Keil; 15. The Hartlib circle and the cult and culture of improvement in Ireland T. C. Barnard; 16. Natural history and historical nature: the project for a natural history of Ireland Patricia Coughlin; 17. Hortulan affairs John Dixon Hunt; 18. 'Another epocha'?: Hartlib, John Lanyon and the improvement of London in the 1650s Mark Jenner; Appendix.

Editorial Reviews

"This is a stimulating book....richly rewarding for those who want to move beyond the university-Westminster axis into the lives and concerns of seventeenth-century British intellectuals, reformers, and visionaries." James B. McSwain, Sixteenth Century Journal

"...those who take the subtitle seriously will find a number of fascinating "studies in intellectual communication." Stanford Lehmberg, Rebaissance Quarterly

From the Publisher