After the Revolution

A century and a half later, in revolutionary France, the two issues were again at the forefront of heated epistemological, linguistic and political debates. This chapter shows how political considerations were also responsible for the embarrassed silence on the issue of the relationship between linguistic and scientific innovation that followed the consolidation of Napoleon's power after 1800. Though the economic situation improved over the following months, and publishing activity slowly regained momentum, the livelihoods of independent scientific practitioners remained under severe threat. To return to the issue of the political nature of many scientific or epistemological views expressed during the revolutionary decade, it should be emphasized that different individuals, at different times, expressed different views of Buffon, often very contradictory ones. The Parisian scientific and philosophical scene was characterized by the simultaneous presence of a plurality of actors and of theoretical standpoints, of styles of research and of scientific writing, and of individuals in need of patrons and allies

Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Scientific revolution · Historical and Literary Studies · History · Law · Philosophy

• The Evolutionary Thought of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

  Open Access•Ricardo Noguera Solano, Juan Manuel Rodriguez-Caso et al.•Science & Education•2021

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