Doctoral Dissertation Research: Humphry Davy and the Rise of Modern Chemistry

“浪漫主义”似乎与科学完全对立。我们将浪漫主义与诗歌和情感联系在一起，并将其与科学及其相关的理性和客观品质相对立。科学史家传统上接受这种观点，认为浪漫主义阻碍了科学的发展，是某些科学家的不幸弱点，它蒙蔽了他们的判断，混淆了他们的方法。然而，历史研究表明，科学中的浪漫主义态度实际上并没有阻碍科学的进步。事实上，在现代化学的创造中最重要的科学家之一，汉弗莱·戴维，就是一个浪漫主义者。浪漫主义是如何塑造科学及其机构的？浪漫主义是如何与科学不相容的？这些问题的答案可能有助于在当代科学的理性主义需求和浪漫主义批评家的观点之间建立一种和解。朱莉安·塔特尔的论文《汉弗莱·戴维：科学与浪漫主义的个案研究》探讨了几个戴维学者的惊人观察所引起的问题，即浪漫主义在戴维职业生涯的某些阶段主导了他的思想，但在其他阶段几乎没有。塔特尔女士的论文围绕着对戴维作品的仔细阅读，包括未发表的期刊、信件、实验笔记、科学论文草稿、课堂笔记和诗歌。这篇细读将1)追踪浪漫主义在戴维的化学、认识论和天才概念中的流行，2)分析戴维是如何将浪漫主义与主流化学和方法结合起来的，3)辨别和分析戴维是如何调和或排除他的浪漫主义，以支持一种更完全的培根式、机械论或非形而上学的科学的。塔特尔女士的论文将有助于最近的学术研究，该研究发现浪漫主义是现代科学发展不可或缺的一部分。此外，以戴维为例，本文将探讨浪漫主义与科学之间的冲突或不相容，以了解科学是如何被重塑以排除浪漫主义的。

"Romanticism" seems absolutely antithetical to science. We associate romanticism with poetry and emotion and set it opposite science and its associated qualities of rationality and objectivity. Historians of science have traditionally accepted this view and have seen romanticism as an obstacle to good science and an unfortunate weakness of certain scientists which clouded their judgment and confounded their method. Yet historical research has shown that romantic attitudes in science have not in fact obstructed the advance of science. Indeed, one of the most important of scientists in the creation of modern chemistry, Humphry Davy, was a romantic. How did romanticism shape science and its institutions? How did romanticism become incompatible with science? The answer to these questions could help to create a rapprochement between the rationalist needs of contemporary science and the views of its romantic critics. Julianne Tuttle's dissertation "Humphry Davy: A Case Study of Science and Romanticism" pursues questions arising from the striking observation of several Davy scholars that Romanticism dominated Davy's thought at some phases in his career but was almost absent in others. Ms. Tuttle's dissertation centers around a close reading of Davy's works including unpublished journals, letters, lab notes, drafts of scientific papers, lecture notes, and poetry. This close reading will 1) track the prevalence of Romanticism in Davy's chemistry, epistemology, and notions of genius, 2) analyze how Davy integrated Romanticism with mainstream chemistry and method, and 3) discern and analyze instances in which Davy tempered or excluded his Romanticism in favor of a more fully Baconian, mechanistic, or nonmetaphysical science. Ms. Tuttle's dissertation will contribute to the recent scholarship which has found Romanticism to be integral to the development of modern science. Furthermore, taking Davy as a case study suggestive of larger trends, the dissertation will explore conflicts or incomp atibility between Romanticism and science with the goal of understanding how science was recast to exclude Romanticism.