History of Science in a National Context

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8395307
AutoresMaurice Crosland (University of Kent, autor de correspondencia)
Año1977
Volumen10
Número2
Páginas95-113
Fecha de publicación1977-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe British Journal for the History of Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0007-0874 • E-ISSN: 1474-001X
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0007087400015363
OpenAlexW2069555329
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas15

The history of science can be approached in several different ways. It may be studied, as in the classification once favoured in the long-established Department of History and Philosophy of Science at University College London, by considering separately the history of individual sciences: physics, chemistry, biology, etc.—Partington's monumental History of chemistry is a good example of the cross-section of history of science obtained by considering a single discipline. This approach is understandable when history of science is the work of retired specialists in a particular science. On the other hand, many of those who have approached the history of science from a training in general history have tended to favour a study of a particular period as an alternative to an orientation by subject. This is particularly valuable before the nineteenth century, when subject boundaries were not so tightly drawn as some of the old science historians tended to assume. A third possibility is area studies, usually the history of science within a particular country. Sometimes this is done unconsciously, as when historians claim that they are dealing with a general theme, such as science and religion or scientific institutions, but do so with special reference to their own country. French historians of ‘the Enlightenment’ often study French authors exclusively. Language as much as country is a limiting factor here

Aesthetics · Context (archaeology · Enlightenment · Epistemology · History of ideas · History of science · History of science and technology · Library science · Limiting · Period (music · Science education · Science history · Section (typography · Social science · Sociology · Subject (documents · Theme (computing · Computer Science · Historical and Literary Studies · History · History and Developments in Astronomy · History of Science and Natural History · Philosophy