Cavendish 1666 - Revision history

Wtrettien at 14:30, 30 March 2011

2011-03-30T14:30:09Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:30, 30 March 2011
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	* "For, if all creatures could or should be metamorphosed into one sort of figure, then this whole world would perhaps come to be one stone, which would be a hard world." (91)		* "For, if all creatures could or should be metamorphosed into one sort of figure, then this whole world would perhaps come to be one stone, which would be a hard world." (91)

			== notes from meeting ==

	~~Hobbes:~~		John Rogers, book on Milton -- interested in Milton's science; overreads/misreads vitalism in Milton's poetry
	~~Leviathan -- first two books; can skip theological sections~~
	~~Bohemoth -- wrote, but wasnt' allowed to publish~~
	~~reply to Boyle~~

	~~Shapin and Schaffer~~
	~~-- Latour's response~~

	John Rogers, book on Milton -- interested in Milton's science;
	overreads/misreads vitalism in Milton's poetry

	Samuel Butler's response to Royal Society		Samuel Butler's response to Royal Society

	Neils Bohr -- poetry and science; quantam mechanics		Neils Bohr: poetry and science; quantam mechanics

	Cavendish's scientific poetry: what about her epistemology lets her write poetry?		Cavendish's scientific poetry: what about her epistemology lets her write poetry?

	Cavendish, ''Observations''		Cavendish, ''Observations''

	* motion: runs throughout her work; just two decades later, Newton would describe his theories of motion		* motion: runs throughout her work; just two decades later, Newton would describe his theories of motion
	-- what's at stake: whether there can be a vacuum or not? Cavendish denies it; her husband is the patron of Hobbes (also believes there's no vacuum) (pg. 78)		* what's at stake: whether there can be a vacuum or not? Cavendish denies it; her husband is the patron of Hobbes (also believes there's no vacuum) (pg. 78)
	-- vacuum is bound up in cosmology		* vacuum is bound up in cosmology
	-- vacuum as emptiness vs. nothingness		* vacuum as emptiness vs. nothingness
	-- if there isn't motion, there isn't time		* if there isn't motion, there isn't time

	* perception:		perception
	~~- muscles~~

	exterior vs. interior		exterior vs. interior
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	Hobbes: uses sense perception of man to lead into discussion of body politic		Hobbes: uses sense perception of man to lead into discussion of body politic

	Locke: wants to break the connection -- writes first an Essay Concerning Human Understanding; then writes his Treatise on Government		Locke: wants to break the connection -- writes first an Essay Concerning Human Understanding; then writes his Treatise on Government
	* beginning with the mind as a blank slate, and his work itself as a blank slate; he sets the terms of the debate		* beginning with the mind as a blank slate, and his work itself as a blank slate; he sets the terms of the debate

Wtrettien at 14:27, 30 March 2011

2011-03-30T14:27:47Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:27, 30 March 2011
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	* animals cannot, "for as animals have different parts, so these parts are of different figures, not only exteriorly, but interiorly" (90) -- several sorts of flesh; "all which would puzzle and withstand the power of Ovid's metamorphosing of gods and goddesses" (91)		* animals cannot, "for as animals have different parts, so these parts are of different figures, not only exteriorly, but interiorly" (90) -- several sorts of flesh; "all which would puzzle and withstand the power of Ovid's metamorphosing of gods and goddesses" (91)
	* "For, if all creatures could or should be metamorphosed into one sort of figure, then this whole world would perhaps come to be one stone, which would be a hard world." (91)		* "For, if all creatures could or should be metamorphosed into one sort of figure, then this whole world would perhaps come to be one stone, which would be a hard world." (91)


			Hobbes:
			Leviathan -- first two books; can skip theological sections
			Bohemoth -- wrote, but wasnt' allowed to publish
			reply to Boyle

			Shapin and Schaffer
			-- Latour's response

			John Rogers, book on Milton -- interested in Milton's science;
			overreads/misreads vitalism in Milton's poetry

			Samuel Butler's response to Royal Society

			Neils Bohr -- poetry and science; quantam mechanics

			Cavendish's scientific poetry: what about her epistemology lets her write poetry?

			Cavendish, ''Observations''

			* motion: runs throughout her work; just two decades later, Newton would describe his theories of motion
			-- what's at stake: whether there can be a vacuum or not? Cavendish denies it; her husband is the patron of Hobbes (also believes there's no vacuum) (pg. 78)
			-- vacuum is bound up in cosmology
			-- vacuum as emptiness vs. nothingness
			-- if there isn't motion, there isn't time

			* perception:
			- muscles

			exterior vs. interior
			* instruments force us to look only at exteriors, which distract us from knowing causes and interior motions

			Lorraine Daston, ''Objectivity''
			* early modern episteme: truth is in nature (form of plants is most perfect)
			* switches to turth in machine (machine motion is perfect)

			Hobbes: uses sense perception of man to lead into discussion of body politic
			Locke: wants to break the connection -- writes first an Essay Concerning Human Understanding; then writes his Treatise on Government
			* beginning with the mind as a blank slate, and his work itself as a blank slate; he sets the terms of the debate

			virtuality to actualization

			1660s: counter-Enlightenment argument begins that provides alternative to British empiricists; father is Spinoza; concerned with virtualization and actualization (forms being represented that can become actual), as opposed to illusion and reality (i.e. artifice is always understood in relation to what reality is)
			* Cavendish plays into the idea of illusion vs. reality in her argument against instruments;
			* at the same time, Cavendish is interested in an alternative method not based on realism; might

			color
			* debate about whether it's produced by light/prism, or is it inherent and natural
			* Goethe, color -- closing eyes really tight, we can see color; turns color into romantic possibilities -- generated from the inside to the outside

			where does information come from? the inside or the outside?

			whose doing the observing at this moment in time?

			Blazing World
			* description: no matter how much Cavendish doesn't like it, she has to use description: it's a ''description'' of a new world, called the blazing world, not "a ''discovery''", as with Wilkins

			sumptuary laws: Elizabeth I prohibited wearing of particcular clothes; e.g. can't wear ermine-tipped robes unless you're a monarch or immediate heir to throne;
			* make rank visible
			* 1590s; Cavendish still discussing in 1660s

Wtrettien at 14:22, 24 March 2011

2011-03-24T14:22:47Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:22, 24 March 2011
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	:"if I am condemned, I shall be annihilated to nothing: but my ambition is such, as I would either be a world, or nothing" -- in ''Poems'', "To Naturall Philosophers", qtd on pg. xxxvi		:"if I am condemned, I shall be annihilated to nothing: but my ambition is such, as I would either be a world, or nothing" -- in ''Poems'', "To Naturall Philosophers", qtd on pg. xxxvi

			men consider the '''exterior''' when using microscopes and instruments; they should, however, be inquiring into the causes (the interior) of things (99-100; 128; 226)

			'''feminizing of nature''' merges with her argument in interesting ways; see e.g. 105: "for, Nature being a wise and provident lady, governs her parts very wisely, methodically, and orderly: Also, she is very industrious, and hates to be idle, which makes her employ her time as a good housewife does, in brewing, baking, churning, spinning, sowing, etc." (105) -- natural philosophy should be ''useful'' the way housewife's are; see also 109

			residue of Renaissance resemblance arguments, pg. 123 -- discussing whether the figures of herbs appear in their frozen decoctions

			no vacuum in nature (127, 128)

			against atomism (129)

			every bit of matter has some form of perception; animal/mineral perceptions just aren't accesibly to us: "so that a mineral or vegetable that perceives the figure of an animal, has no more the perception of an animal, than an animal which perceives or patterns out the figure of a mineral or veetable, has the perceptions of those creatures" (142); see also 197, 207

	'''X Of a Butterfly'''		'''X Of a Butterfly'''

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2011-03-24T14:11:50Z

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:"if I am condemned, I shall be annihilated to nothing: but my ambition is such, as I would either be a world, or nothing" -- in ''Poems'', "To Naturall Philosophers", qtd on pg. xxxvi

'''X Of a Butterfly'''
* describes a creature that "appeared partly a vegetable, animal and mineral" (61)

'''XIV Of Natural Productions'''
* "I cannot wonder with those, who admire that a creature which inhabits the air, doth yet produce a creature, that for some time lives in the water as a fish, and afterward becomes an inhabitant of the air for this is but a production of one animal from another: but, what is more, I observe that there are productions of and from creatures of quite different kinds; as for example, that vegetables can and do breed animals, and animals, minerals and vegetables, and so forth" (66)

'''XXII Of Wood Petrified'''
* clay, dirt, etc., often turn to stone -- they are of a uniform nature, and therefore can transform uniformly
* animals cannot, "for as animals have different parts, so these parts are of different figures, not only exteriorly, but interiorly" (90) -- several sorts of flesh; "all which would puzzle and withstand the power of Ovid's metamorphosing of gods and goddesses" (91)
* "For, if all creatures could or should be metamorphosed into one sort of figure, then this whole world would perhaps come to be one stone, which would be a hard world." (91)