Las observaciones sobre España de John Ray y Francis Willughby (1673)
Ciencia y prejuicios en dos naturalistas de la «Restoration» inglesa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12487966 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alejandro Sell Maestro (0000-0002-1554-302X, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 379-402 |
| Publication date | 2025-11-05 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Memoria y Civilización (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1139-0107 • E-ISSN: 2254-6367 |
| Publisher | Universidad de Navarra (PUBLISHER • ES) |
| DOI | 10.15581/001.28.2.017 |
| OpenAlex | W4415991544 |
| Language | ES |
| References cited | 21 |
English natural philosopher Francis Willughby toured Spain in 1664 as member of a scientific expedition which led him and three companions through part of Western Europe. Willughby left a few notes which were added to the Observations Topographical, Moral & Physiological made in a Journey through Part of the Low Countries, Germany, Italy, and France published posthumously (1673) by John Ray, the chief goal of which was to increase knowledge of nature on a systematic, scientific basis. Nonetheless, the overall depiction of Spain and the Spanish overflows with offensive stereotypes which bely their author’s rational ideals. Thus, the appendix devoted to Spain is strongly ideologised, as its purpose was to demonstrate that the intellectual backwardness of the Spanish was due to a series of factors embedded in the political and socio-economic conditions deriving from a regime sustained on popery and absolutism. This article explains the reasons for this in view of the circumstances of the expedition and the anti-Spanish prejudices of English Restoration scientists
Backwardness · Depiction · Natural (archaeology · Offensive · Politics · Sociology of scientific knowledge · Historical and Literary Analyses · Historical Art and Culture Studies · Historical Philosophy and Science
| Highly cited | No |
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