A Culture of Fact: England, 1550-1720

by Barbara J. Shapiro

Overview

Barbara J. Shapiro traces the surprising genesis of the "fact," a modern concept that, she convincingly demonstrates, originated not in natural science but in legal discourse. She follows the concept's evolution and diffusion across a variety of disciplines in early modern England, examining how the emerging "culture of fact" shaped the epistemological assumptions of each intellectual enterprise.

Drawing on an astonishing breadth of research, Shapiro probes the fact's changing identity from an alleged human action to a proven natural or human happening. The crucial first step in this transition occurred in the sixteenth century when English common law established a definition of fact which relied on eyewitnesses and testimony. The concept widened to cover natural as well as human events as a result of developments in news reportage and travel writing. Only then, Shapiro discovers, did scientific philosophy adopt the category "fact." With Francis Bacon advocating more stringent criteria, the witness became a vital component in scientific observation and experimentation. Shapiro also recounts how England's preoccupation with the fact influenced historiography, religion, and literature—which saw the creation of a fact-oriented fictional genre, the novel.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801436864
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	11/17/1999
Series:	8/27/2007
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.06(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Barbara J. Shapiro is Professor of Rhetoric Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley. Her books include Beyond Reasonable Doubt and Probable Cause: Historical Perspectives on the Anglo-American Law of Evidence and Probability and Certainty in Seventeenth-Century England.

What People are Saying About This

Donald R. Kelley

A Culture of Fact is a superb realization of a great idea. Erudite, conceptually rich, and thought provoking, it also constitutes an important supplement to several areas of scholarship in early modern English intellectual history.

Karen Cunningham

Fascinating work... Shapiro admirably achieves her aim, which is to shed light on questions relating to disciplinary development and permeability. She emphasizes the legal origins of 'fact' without overestimating legal influences in the development of other disciplines. She shows how this critical element of our language of empiricism was shaped out of legal practices and how a concept of 'fact' grounded in human acts and testimony became a commonplace of Anglo-American cultural practice.

R.W. Serjeantson

A Culture of Fact is clearly written and lucidly arranged... The work rests upon an impressive amount of reading in the vernacular printed books of the period, and also makes use of some archival material from the Royal Society.

Wilfrid Prest

Commanding both a formidable range of reference and a lucid prose style, Shapiro has something interesting to say about almost every topic she touches... Shapiro's book can be recommended as essential reading for anyone concerned with the intellectual history of early modern England.

Thomas A. Green

Barbara Shapiro's original account of the concept of fact in early-modern English culture moves outward from law to virtually every area of professional and lay intellectual curiosity and endeavor. Thoughtful, learned, and admirably lucid, A Culture of Fact is an important contribution to the study of post-Medieval Western culture in general.

Editorial Reviews

This nutshell presentation does far from justice to the nuances of the basic argument of the book, still less to the striking nature of the supporting detail... It should be given a hearty welcome as a trenchant and well illustrated contribution to an ongoing debate.

Journal of European Studies - Paul Dukes

Shapiro has written an excellent work in intellectual and cultural history.

Virginia Quarterly Review

The book is filled with quotes and references to a very wide range of primary as well as secondary sources. It will be of much heuristic value in studying the changing meanings of 'fact' in this period, quite apart from Shapiro's strong argument concerning the special role of the law.

Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences - Peter Dear

Shapiro has written an excellent work in intellectual and cultural history.

-- "Virginia Quarterly Review"

The book is filled with quotes and references to a very wide range of primary as well as secondary sources. It will be of much heuristic value in studying the changing meanings of 'fact' in this period, quite apart from Shapiro's strong argument concerning the special role of the law.

--Peter Dear, Cornell University "Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences"

This nutshell presentation does far from justice to the nuances of the basic argument of the book, still less to the striking nature of the supporting detail... It should be given a hearty welcome as a trenchant and well illustrated contribution to an ongoing debate.

--Paul Dukes "Journal of European Studies"

From the Publisher