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性相对立。科学史学家传统上接受这一观点，并将浪漫主义视为良好科学的障碍，以及某些科学家不幸的弱点，这蒙蔽了他们的判断，混淆了他们的方法。然而，历史研究表明，科学中的浪漫态度实际上并没有阻碍科学的进步。事实上，现代化学的创造中最重要的科学家之一汉弗莱·戴维是一位浪漫主义者。浪漫主义是如何塑造科学及其制度的？浪漫主义是如何与科学格格不入的？这些问题的答案可能有助于在当代科学的理性主义需求与其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：科学与浪漫主义的案例研究》探讨了几位戴维学者的惊人观察引发的问题，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。塔特尔女士的论文以仔细阅读戴维的作品为中心，包括未发表的期刊、信件、实验室笔记、科学论文草稿、讲座笔记和诗歌。这本细读将1)追踪大卫的化学、认识论和天才观念中浪漫主义的流行，2)分析戴维如何将浪漫主义与主流化学和方法相结合，3)辨别和分析戴维缓和或排除他的浪漫主义，转而支持更全面的培根、机械论或非形而上学科学的例子。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，本文将以戴维为个案，探讨浪漫主义与科学之间的冲突或不可匹配性，以期理解科学是如何被重塑以排斥浪漫主义的。

"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 Tuttle's dissertation centers around a close reading of Davy's works including unpublished journals, letters, lab notes, drafts of scientific papers, lecture notes, and poetry.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.