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SUMMARY:Charlatans and the making of research: the undisciplining and redi
 sciplining of experimental philosophy in seventeenth-century Europe - Vera
  Keller (University of Oregon)
DTSTART:20211111T153000Z
DTEND:20211111T170000Z
UID:TALK163132@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Richard Staley
DESCRIPTION:"Register to attend in person":https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/
 hps-departmental-seminar-tickets-196476595787\n\nThis talk explores the ma
 king of academic experimental philosophy as the product of a century-long 
 dynamic that began with the undisciplining of knowledge. The ancient conce
 pt of discipline sought to protect the transmission of knowledge from mast
 er to disciple\, crystallizing forms of knowledge in distinct structures a
 nd hierarchies meant to preserve them unharmed through the tempests of tim
 e. Whereas the early modern period is often interpreted as a time of socia
 l and epistemic disciplining\, I argue that in fact it demonstrates the un
 disciplining of knowledge as the authority of masters and distinct boundar
 ies between forms of knowledge were rebuffed. Undisciplining produced hybr
 id forms of knowledge drawn from across a wide social and epistemic hierar
 chy\, such as the 'experimental philosophy' that first appeared in England
  in the 1630s. A case in point was the trend for integrating the performan
 ces of wandering 'charlatans' – waterspouters\, fire-eaters\, and sword-
 swallowers – into experimental study. Undisciplined forms of knowledge p
 osed a challenge for seventeenth-century German pedagogues who sought to i
 ntroduce English-style experimental philosophy into their curricula and wh
 o established the first chairs of experimental philosophy. These academics
  developed new infrastructures for working playful\, unstable and heteroge
 neous experimental philosophy (including the performances of charlatans) i
 nto an academic framework. In so doing\, I argue\, they transformed practi
 ces of disciplinarity as a whole\, framing knowledge as both transmissible
  and changing\, that is\, as research.
LOCATION:Zoom
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