French botany in the enlightenment : the ill-fated voyages of La Pérouse and his rescuers /
This volume completes a trilogy meant to be a commentary on the botanophilia that captured the literate public in 18th-century France. Enthusiastic public support for any governmental initiative likely to expand botanical knowledge was an expression of immense curiosity about the natural world beyon...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Dordrecht :
Springer,
2003.
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| Series: | Archives internationales d'histoire des idées ;
182. |
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| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | This volume completes a trilogy meant to be a commentary on the botanophilia that captured the literate public in 18th-century France. Enthusiastic public support for any governmental initiative likely to expand botanical knowledge was an expression of immense curiosity about the natural world beyond Europe, which extended into a curiosity about primitive people and cultures little known. It amounted to a quest for universal knowledge that could benefit all mankind: useful knowledge that could improve the human condition in this life. That was the spirit of the Enlightenment, the sciences believed to be the key to humanity's advancement. The botanists exploring abroad brought back exciting quantities of new species and genera, but also a message about the condition of primitive people that undercut the fashionable image of noble savagery. No matter how dispiriting were some of the conditions they observed abroad, they retained a faith that ignorance and superstition could be vanquished. |
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| Item Description: | Electronic resource. |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (vii, 249 pages) |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9789401701877 (electronic bk.) 9401701873 (electronic bk.) |