English abstracts #81:

ANTON JANSSON & MARIA SIMONSEN: “HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE, HISTORY OF IDEAS, AND OTHER FORMS OF HISTORY: AN OVERVIEW IN SCANDINAVIAN PERSPECTIVE”

This article is an overview in which we paint a picture of the research field that during the 2010s has emerged under the banner of history of knowledge. The purpose is to complement the preface of this special issue, and so give a better context for the issue, by providing a somewhat broader introduction. History of knowledge is here specifically related to history of science and history of ideas.

In the first half of the text, we present the emergence of the field and some of its key concepts and perspectives, as well as some critique it has faced. In the second half, we discuss and compare history of knowledge with the institutionalised disciplines of history of ideas in Scandinavia. We see some clear overlaps and similarities between history of ideas and history of knowledge, but also differences. For instance, historians of ideas study traditions of thought, which not necessarily count as knowledge. One point we see with history of knowledge as a field is how it works as an interdisciplinary and integrative meeting point, where historical researchers from different disciplines can gather to discuss the appearance and social function of knowledge, and by doing this have the possibility of also generating new perspectives on cultural and societal history.

Keywords: history of knowledge, history of ideas, intellectual history, history of science, Scandinavia

ANNE ERIKSEN & ELLEN KREF TING: “THE POWER AND MATERIALITY OF FORM: ON STUDYING THE FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE IN CATECHISMS AND SHIP’S LOGS”

The article argues that in the emerging field of the history of knowledge, with its focus on the production, circulation and exchange of knowledge, explorations of forms will represent a valuable addition. Form is related to genre. Yet, while the identification of genres is largely based on linguistic, literary or rhetorical criteria, form is also about structures and materiality as well as about practical and institutional preconditions. Form often attracts less attention than contents, although the form makes this content recognizable as knowledge. Our argument builds on the exploration of two different early modern knowledge forms, the catechism and the english abstracts ship’s log respectively. Both demonstrate how form is decisive in defining contents as authoritative knowledge. They also illustrate how form is a prerequisite to enable knowledge to circulate and be part of cultural exchange, and thus to be socially efficient.The forms serve to codify existing knowledge, but also to the production and circulation of new insights. When forms like the log and the catechism are examined historically, however, they can also be seen to live their own lives in a tension between stability and change. The forms themselves become objects of negotiations, change and innovation.

Keywords: Forms of knowledge, circulation of knowledge, history of knowledge, catechism, ship’s log

ANNE HELNESS: “THE CIRCULATION OF A SHIPWRECK TALE IN THREE EARLY MODERN KNOWLEDGE PROJECTS”

This article investigates three different national contexts of knowledge production that use the shipwreck story of Piero Querini of 1431. The first is Venetian: Giovanni Battista Ramusio’s Navigationi et viaggi (1559) stands at the cross roads between old and new knowledge, and the skipwreck story is emblematic of Venetian travellers being the first to explore various parts of the globe, as well as being an Odyssean example of heroic courage. The second is English: Samuel Purchas’ theological geography and apocalyptic mercantilism in Hakluyt Postumous, or Purchas his Pilgrime (1625) seeks to present the reader with moral building blocks for Bacons new knowledge project, in which the shipwreck underlines God’s mercy and providence in a work otherwise filled with relations of English efforts to find a passage to the East by way of the North. The last context is Norwegian: In Gerhard Sch.ning’s exemplary historiography the shipwreck has become a relation of remnants of the heroic Northerners he sought to present in his other works.

Keywords: Ramusio, Purchas, Schøning, travel literature, Querini

LARS ANDERSEN: THE DEATH SMELL OF MODERN CIVILISATION? MORAL STATISTICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SUICIDE IN 19TH CENTURY DENMARK

This article investigates the impact of moral statistics on suicide in Denmark in the 19th century. Championed as a new European social science, moral statistics was able to reveal statistical regularity on social and moral issues – such as suicide. Statistics proved, firstly, that Denmark experienced one of the highest suicide rates in Europe. Secondly, as demonstrated in 1846 by the Danish physician C. J. Kayser, statistics uncovered that suicides over time occurred regularly in the case of frequency, gender distribution, method of self-killing etc.. This new knowledge encouraged Danish statisticians and physicians to look for societal causes rather than the former theological focus on individual sin. The statistical representations of suicide paved the way for two different interpretations of suicide in the second half of the 19th century, one of which linked suicide rates to the evils of modernisation and secularisation of society, emphasizing drunkenness, alcoholism, and moral decline as causes of suicide. Another, less prevalent, explanation stressed the social and economic inequality of industrialisation as the cause of rising suicide rates. ‘The moral explanation’ prevailed and the official statistical reports as well as newspaper articles was clearly affected by the idea that the rising suicide rates of the 19. century reflected an attack on core values of bourgeois society; moral, sobriety and religion. This way suicide statistics was embedded in a broader social representation reflecting a fear of breakdown of traditional values in modern society.

Keywords: Suicide, suicide frequency, moral statistics, statistical representation, C. J. Kayser.

LOUISE KARLSKOV SKYGGEBJERG: “THE CHILDHOOD OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING IN DENMARK: ANALYSED FROM A HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE PERSPECTIVE”

With an outset in a performative understanding of knowledge as situated everyday practice, electrical engineering in Denmark in the beginning of the 20th century is analysed. What were the needs of knowledge? How did knowledge about electrical engineering circulate? Which ideas about the present and the future were included? In the article, the concept landscape of knowledge is introduced as an alternative to english abstracts map of knowledge, because map indicates something organised and well defined, while a landscape is messier and better mirrors the complexity found in the empirical studies. However, both concepts signal that in every society something is perceived as natural, right and sensible, and something else as odd and unthinkable. The analysis is focused on the question of education in electrical engineering. Around 1900 a number of new educations came into being, and the Polytechnic College (today DTU) began to educate electrical engineers. It should be a practical education designed after the needs of the state. However, what may seem odd today is its focus on direct current (DC), because the planners believed alternating current (AC) had no particular future in Denmark.

Keywords: Landscape of knowledge, circulation of knowledge, history of knowledge, electrical engineering, electricity

HENRIK LUNDBERG: ARNE NÆSS AND INGEMAR HEDENIUS AS DRAMATIC INTELLECTUALS: “A CASE FOR A SHARED THEORY FOR THE SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE”

In terms of their substantive research interests and their epistemological approach, the sociology of knowledge and the history of knowledge show significant enough similarities to allow shared theory development. In this article, I argue that the recent work by Jeffrey C. Alexander on ‘dramatic intellectuals’ can offer a useful point of departure for such an undertaking. Alexander’s interest in the way intellectuals provide meaning-making narratives for their audiences can be seen as not unlike the interest of historians of knowledge in examining how knowledge circulates in society. Indeed, one can go as far as to claim Alexander’s postulates about dramatic intellectuals to constitute a theory of knowledge circulation. To demonstrate the point and the relevance of his work to the sociology and history of knowledge more in general, two brief case studies are presented: that of the Norwegian philosopher Arne N.ss and that of the Swedish philosopher Ingemar Hedenius. Many of their activities in the early post-war period, it is shown, can be viewed as attempts at meaning-construction through narratives formulated to help the broader public orient itself in the world in difficult times. The argument is made that the sociology of knowledge and the history of knowledge need, accordingly, to pay more attention to the central category of meaning in the study of intellectuals and their audiences. This can be profitably done by departing from the observation of Alexander’s that what enables knowledge to circulate in society is its dramatic conveyance through well-formulated meaning-making narratives that help social actors make sense of their circumstances.

Keywords: History of knowledge, sociology of knowledge, Arne N.ss, Ingemar Hedenius, Jeffrey C Alexander.

JOHAN KÄRNFELT: “THE HERSCHEL TELESCOPE OF THE ROYAL SWEDISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: AN INSTRUMENT BIOGRAPHY”

The so called Herschel telescope is one of the key items in the artefact collection of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science. The optics was commissioned from William Herschel in England in the mid-1780s and arrived a couple of years later, but the telescope as such was not finished until 1812. Even if it amounted to a considerable investment for the Academy, scientific speaking it turned out to be a total failure. A biographical approach is used to study the instruments shifting roles in the formation of knowledge, from its completion in the early 19th century, until the present era. Since the telescope in its original configuration was unusable, it was firstly rebuild 1842, still without coming to any scientific use, and then reinterpreted as a cultural heritage object. As such, it has since served different roles in several exhibitions contexts.

Keywords: Royal Swedish academy of sciences, William Herschel, telescope, instrument biography