『The Science of Describing : Natural History in Renaissance Europe』

Brian W. Ogilvie

(2006年刊行, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN:0226620875 [hbk] → 著者サイト版元ページ



【目次】
List of Figures viii
Preface and Acknowledgments x
Conventions xv

1. Introduction 1

Setting the Stage : The Invention of Natural History in the Renaissance 1
Natural History and Renaissance Culture : Five Aspects 11
  Humanism 11
  Empiricism and the History of the Fact 12
  Collecting and Curiosity 13
  Forms of Scientific Sociability and Organization 14
  The Renaissance “Worldview” 15
Methodological Problems : Experience and Practice 17

2. The World of Renaissance Natural History 25

Four Generations of Renaissance Naturalists 28
  Medical Humanists and Critics, 1490-1530 30
  The First Phytographers, 1530-60 34
  Cataloguers and Collectors, 1560-90 38
  Systematizers, 1590-1620 46
The Preeminence of Botany 49
A Collective Enterprise 51
What Made a Naturalist? 54
The Geography of Natural History 58
Natural History in Local Communities 63
  Basel, c. 1550-1620 63
  The Eastern Habsburg Lands, c. 1560-88 65
  Bordeaux, circa 1600 67
Shared Activities : Herborizing 70
The Community of Naturalists and the Republic of Letters 74
The Imagined Community 82
Conclusion 85

3. The Humanist Invention of Natural History 87

The Invention of a Tradition 93
Nature in Medieval and Renaissance Literature 100
Cognitio Historica and Natural History 115
Humanist Scholarship and Ancient Natural History 121
Humanist Natural History in Practice : Euricius Cordus 133
Conclusion : Dioscorides and Renaissance Natural History 137

4. A Science of Describing 139

Experiencing Nature 141
  Gardens 151
  Herbaria 165
Reproducing Experience 174
  Notes, Correspondence, and Exchange 174
  Describing Plants, 1530-1630 182
  Illustrations as Renaissance Natural History 192
The Primacy of the Visual 203
Conclusion : From Local to Universal Knowledge 206

5. Common Sense, Classification, and the Catalogue of Nature 209

The Unexpected Consequences of the Science of Describing 210
  Herbalia : From Memoranda to Documentation Centers 210
  Taxonomy and Classification : Renaissance Folkbiology 215
Evaluating the Unknown : Renaissance Naturalists and Travelers' Tales 229
The Wonders of the North 231
  Beyond Europe : The Natural History of the Indies 243
  Acosta on the Medicies of India 244
  Birds of Paradise 248
  The Ficus Indica : Reliable Witnessing 252
  Training Witnesses 254
Epilogue : A New Sensibility? 258

6. Conclusion: What Was "Renaissance Natural History"? 265

Notes 273
Bibliography 331
Index 367