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History of Science, History of Text

  • Book
  • © 2005

Overview

Editors:
  1. Karine Chemla

    1. REHSEIS — CNRS & University Paris 7, Paris

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Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science (BSPS, volume 238)

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxvii
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  2. What is a Text?

    1. Spatial Organization of Ancient Chinese Texts (Preliminary Remarks)

      • Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann
      Pages 3-47

  3. The Constitution of Scientific Texts: from Draft to Opera Omnia

    1. Leibniz and the Use of Manuscripts: Text as Process

      • Eberhard Knobloch
      Pages 51-79

    2. Opera Omnia: The Production of Cultural Authority

      • Michael Cahn
      Pages 81-94

    3. Writing Works: A Reaction to Michael Cahn’s Paper

      • Hans-Jörg Rheinberger
      Pages 95-103

  4. How Scientific and Technical Texts Adhere to Local Cultures

    1. Text, Representation and Technique in Early Modern China

      • Craig Clunas
      Pages 107-121

    2. The Algebraic Art of Discourse Algebraic Dispositio, Invention and Imitation in Sixteenth-Century France

      • Giovanna C. Cifoletti
      Pages 123-135

    3. Ancient Sanskrit Mathematics: An Oral Tradition and a Written Literature

      • Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat
      Pages 137-157

  6. Epilogue

    1. Knowledge and its Artifacts

      • David R. Olson
      Pages 231-245

  7. Back Matter

    Pages 247-266
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Keywords

About this book

two main (interacting) ways. They constitute that with which exploration into problems or questions is carried out. But they also constitute that which is exchanged between scholars or, in other terms, that which is shaped by one (or by some) for use by others. In these various dimensions, texts obviously depend on the means and technologies available for producing, reproducing, using and organizing writings. In this regard, the contribution of a history of text is essential in helping us approach the various historical contexts from which our sources originate. However, there is more to it. While shaping texts as texts, the practitioners of the sciences may create new textual resources that intimately relate to the research carried on. One may think, for instance, of the process of introduction of formulas in mathematical texts. This aspect opens up a wholerangeofextremelyinterestingquestionstowhichwewillreturnatalaterpoint.But practitioners of the sciences also rely on texts producedby themselves or others, which they bring into play in various ways. More generally, they make use of textual resources of every kind that is available to them, reshaping them, restricting, or enlarging them. Among these, one can think of ways of naming, syntax of statements or grammatical analysis, literary techniques, modes of shaping texts or parts of text, genres of text and so on.Inthissense,thepractitionersdependon,anddrawon,the“textualcultures”available to the social and professional groups to which they belong.

Reviews

From the reviews:

"Chemla conceives of a domain of research, the history of text, that should be of great use to the history of science, in particular the history of mathematics. … Containing highly interesting documentation most relevant to the case studies … it represents an invaluable source of information for the historian and the philosopher of mathematics." (Norma B. Goethe, Historia Mathematica, Vol. 35, 2008)

Editors and Affiliations

  • REHSEIS — CNRS & University Paris 7, Paris

    Karine Chemla

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