Possible Knowledge : The Literary Forms of Early Modern Science
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| Title: | Possible Knowledge : The Literary Forms of Early Modern Science |
|---|---|
| Description: | The Renaissance, scholars have long argued, was a period beset by the loss of philosophical certainty. In Possible Knowledge, Debapriya Sarkar argues for the pivotal role of literature—what early moderns termed poesie—in the dynamic intellectual culture of this era of profound incertitude. Revealing how problems of epistemology are inextricable from questions of literary form, Sarkar offers a defense of poiesis, or literary making, as a vital philosophical endeavor.Working across a range of genres, Sarkar theorizes “possible knowledge” as an intellectual paradigm crafted in and through literary form. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century writers such as Spenser, Bacon, Shakespeare, Cavendish, and Milton marshalled the capacious concept of the “possible,” defined by Philip Sidney as what “may be and should be,” to construct new theories of physical and metaphysical reality. These early modern thinkers mobilized the imaginative habits of thought constitutive to major genres of literary writing—including epic, tragedy, romance, lyric, and utopia—in order to produce knowledge divorced from historical truth and empirical fact by envisioning states of being untethered from “nature” or reality.Approaching imaginative modes such as hypothesis, conjecture, prediction, and counterfactuals as instruments of possible knowledge, Sarkar exposes how the speculative allure of the “possible” lurks within scientific experiment, induction, and theories of probability. In showing how early modern literary writing sought to grapple with the challenge of forging knowledge in an uncertain, perhaps even incomprehensible world, Possible Knowledge also highlights its most audacious intellectual ambition: its claim that while natural philosophy, or what we today term science, might explain the physical world, literature could remake reality. Enacting a history of ideas that centers literary studies, Possible Knowledge suggests that what we have termed a history of science might ultimately be a history of the imagination. |
| Authors: | Debapriya Sarkar |
| Resource Type: | eBook. |
| Subjects: | Literary form--History, Imagination in literature, Science in literature, Knowledge, Theory of, in literature, English literature--Early modern, 1500-1700--History and criticism, Knowledge, Theory of--England--History, Literature and science--England--History |
| Categories: | LITERARY CRITICISM / Renaissance, PHILOSOPHY / Epistemology, SCIENCE / History |
| Database: | eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) |
| FullText | Links: – Type: ebook-pdf – Type: ebook-epub Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: nlebk DbLabel: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) An: 3411131 RelevancyScore: 1116 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: eBook PubTypeId: ebook PreciseRelevancyScore: 1116.28857421875 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Possible Knowledge : The Literary Forms of Early Modern Science – Name: Abstract Label: Description Group: Ab Data: The Renaissance, scholars have long argued, was a period beset by the loss of philosophical certainty. In Possible Knowledge, Debapriya Sarkar argues for the pivotal role of literature—what early moderns termed poesie—in the dynamic intellectual culture of this era of profound incertitude. Revealing how problems of epistemology are inextricable from questions of literary form, Sarkar offers a defense of poiesis, or literary making, as a vital philosophical endeavor.Working across a range of genres, Sarkar theorizes “possible knowledge” as an intellectual paradigm crafted in and through literary form. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century writers such as Spenser, Bacon, Shakespeare, Cavendish, and Milton marshalled the capacious concept of the “possible,” defined by Philip Sidney as what “may be and should be,” to construct new theories of physical and metaphysical reality. These early modern thinkers mobilized the imaginative habits of thought constitutive to major genres of literary writing—including epic, tragedy, romance, lyric, and utopia—in order to produce knowledge divorced from historical truth and empirical fact by envisioning states of being untethered from “nature” or reality.Approaching imaginative modes such as hypothesis, conjecture, prediction, and counterfactuals as instruments of possible knowledge, Sarkar exposes how the speculative allure of the “possible” lurks within scientific experiment, induction, and theories of probability. In showing how early modern literary writing sought to grapple with the challenge of forging knowledge in an uncertain, perhaps even incomprehensible world, Possible Knowledge also highlights its most audacious intellectual ambition: its claim that while natural philosophy, or what we today term science, might explain the physical world, literature could remake reality. Enacting a history of ideas that centers literary studies, Possible Knowledge suggests that what we have termed a history of science might ultimately be a history of the imagination. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Debapriya+Sarkar%22">Debapriya Sarkar</searchLink> – Name: TypePub Label: Resource Type Group: TypPub Data: eBook. – Name: Subject Label: Subjects Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Literary+form--History%22">Literary form--History</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Imagination+in+literature%22">Imagination in literature</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Science+in+literature%22">Science in literature</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Knowledge%2C+Theory+of%2C+in+literature%22">Knowledge, Theory of, in literature</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22English+literature--Early+modern%2C+1500-1700--History+and+criticism%22">English literature--Early modern, 1500-1700--History and criticism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Knowledge%2C+Theory+of--England--History%22">Knowledge, Theory of--England--History</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Literature+and+science--England--History%22">Literature and science--England--History</searchLink> – Name: SubjectBISAC Label: Categories Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22LITERARY+CRITICISM+%2F+Renaissance%22">LITERARY CRITICISM / Renaissance</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22PHILOSOPHY+%2F+Epistemology%22">PHILOSOPHY / Epistemology</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22SCIENCE+%2F+History%22">SCIENCE / History</searchLink> |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Classifications: – Code: 820.9003 Scheme: ddc Type: prePub Languages: – Code: eng Text: English Subjects: – SubjectFull: Literary form--History Type: general – SubjectFull: Imagination in literature Type: general – SubjectFull: Science in literature Type: general – SubjectFull: Knowledge, Theory of, in literature Type: general – SubjectFull: English literature--Early modern, 1500-1700--History and criticism Type: general – SubjectFull: Knowledge, Theory of--England--History Type: general – SubjectFull: Literature and science--England--History Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Possible Knowledge : The Literary Forms of Early Modern Science Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Debapriya Sarkar – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Debapriya Sarkar IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Type: published Y: 2023 – D: 17 M: 04 Type: profile Y: 2023 Identifiers: – Type: isbn-electronic Value: 9781512823363 Titles: – TitleFull: Possible Knowledge : The Literary Forms of Early Modern Science Type: main |
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