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SUMMARY:Description\, design and aesthesis in the work of John Ray and con
 temporaries - Alexander Wragge-Morley (Department of History and Philosoph
 y of Science)
DTSTART:20100114T163000Z
DTEND:20100114T180000Z
UID:TALK22038@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Alex Broadbent
DESCRIPTION:The place and meaning of 'description' in early modern natural
  history\, philosophy and theology has barely received attention from hist
 orians of science. In this talk I will introduce examples of descriptive w
 ork in verbal\, graphic and 'sculptural' forms of representation employed 
 by John Ray\, Nehemiah Grew and Robert Hooke. I argue that the representat
 ional strategies they employed in natural histories\, whether pursued in w
 ords or images\, cleaved to certain priorities of aesthesis. We can relate
  these to their broader natural philosophical and theological projects. I 
 will also suggest that the verbal descriptions that made up natural histor
 y in Ray's time demand aesthetic interpretation. That is\, we need to thin
 k about the poetics and rhetoric of description if we are to understand it
 s representational strategies.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, History and Philosophy of Science\, Department o
 f
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