The Enlightenment and the Electric Battery
This paper is a discussion of the role played by the ideals of the Enlightenment in the invention and assessment of artifacts like the electric battery. The first electric battery was built in 1799 by Alessandro Volta, who was both a natural philosopher and an artisan-like inventor of intriguing machines. I will show that the story of Volta and the battery contains three plots, each characterized by its own pace and logic. One is the story of natural philosophy, a second is the story of artifacts like the battery, and the third is the story of the loose, long-term values used to assess achievement and reward within and outside expert communities. An analysis of the three plots reveals that late eighteenth-century natural philosophers, despite their frequent celebration of 'useful knowledge,' were not fully prepared to accept the philosophical dignity of artifacts stemming from laboratory practice. Their hesitation was the consequence of a hierarchy of ranks and ascribed competence that was well established within the expert community. In order to make artifacts stemming from laboratory practice fully acceptable within the domain of natural philosophy, some important changes had yet to occur. Still, the case overwhelmingly shows that artifacts rightly belong to the long and varied list of items that make up the legacy of the Enlightenment.
The first electric battery was built towards the end of 1799 by a man who was both a natural philosopher - a member of the Republic of Letters of the late Enlightenment - and an artisan-like inventor of intriguing machines. The present paper is a discussion of the role played by Enlightenment ideals in the introduction and assessment of artifacts ...
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...blic scene the rewards that some of his peers refused to grant him within the expert community of natural philosophers. The same loose set of values allowed patrons like Napoleon to exploit to their advantage on the European scene the achievements of figures like Volta and instruments like the battery.
Finally (fourth transparency again), the loose set of values associated with the notions of achievement and reward allowed the Voltaic battery - this little understood artifact for which in 1800 nobody could predict the bright future of - to enjoy center-stage in a painting like this. Everyone was thus reassured - as I think we still are - of the worth of an inconspicuous, "philosophical" artifact like the battery. A worth that should induce us to include the battery in the long and varied list of valuable items rightly belonging to the legacy of the Enlightenment.
The mood established by Edgar Allan Poe in his short story, "The Cask of Amontillado," plays a crucial role in conveying to the reader his underlying theme. For example, when Montresor, the narrator, st...
Unlike today, where knowledge and technology improve at a relatively frenetic pace, the intellectual temper during the sixteenth century was quite different. People back then did not expect or imagine that great leaps and bounds would be made in the realm of knowledge and were instead rather conservative and tended to respect institutions of authority (Parry, 2). Because of this reality, people generally didn’t question authority or the status quo which produced a relatively slow and unimaginative pace in the terms of scientific exploration. In fact, many scientists were afraid to run too far away from what was considered main...
Niles, Patricia. “The Enlightenment.” Novaonline. Niles and C.T. Evans, 7 May 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. .
The legacy of François Marie Arouet, or Voltaire is not only a vast collection of writings, but also a world that has been radically and directly affected by these works and the activities of their author. While Voltaire did not create many of the ideas he professed, his success at disseminating these is unparalleled. He summed up with the most panache of anyone of his day the central issues of the Enlightenment, and rallied with the greatest fervour to see his beliefs tangibly realised.
The Industrial Revolution is a major turning point in mankind's history. It is no more viewed as the drastic change that its name prescribes, for it was the consequence of an economic evolution that began in the sixteenth century. However, the eighteenth century does speak to an unequivocal change in innovation technology and the growth of economy. The acclaimed inventions–the spinning jenny, the steam engine, coke smelting, thus forth–deserve their eminence, for they mark the begin of a process that has conveyed the West, in any event, to the mass thriving of the twenty-first century. The motivation behind this article is to identify what happened in the eighteenth century, in Britain, and how the methodology of their invention has converted the world.
The Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment period were both a time of immense growth in scientific discovery and an increase in the secular view of the world. The Scientific Revolution would include the use of direct observation and experimentation, dependence on mathematical confirmation, and inventions to test new scientific discoveries (Kwak). The new discoveries of the Scientific Revolution led the growing number of literate middle class individuals in the Enlightenment period. This growth of enlightened individuals led to more intellectual and cultural attitudes that shaped modern history throughout the world (Fiero, 134). This paper will analyze the impact of the
Symbolism is something that represents more than what it really is. It is often by authors in their writing to give it more emphasis. For example:" In life there will always be peaks and valleys" meaning in life there will be ups and downs but we should enjoy the peaks and fight through the valleys. Objects can also be a form of symbolism such as The Bible, it represents more than just a book. It represents Life, Church, Religion, and the life of Jesus Christ and what he stood for. Irony is like a twist or words or the opposite of what is intended. For example: Laughing at someone that just slipped and fell, then later you find yourself slipping and falling is a form of irony. Irony is found in real life situations as well as writings. Symbolism is a technique that gives authors a better story and shows objects as more than what they are. They use techniques like this to catch the reader’s attention.
Edgar Allen Poe uses irony and poetic justice all throughout “The Cask of the Amontillado”. The places where irony and poetic justice hold the most significance are the scenes where, Montresor speaks of the wronging done to him by Fortunato, where Montresor and fortunato speak of the coat of arms, and where at the very end when Montresor traps Fortunato in the catacombs and leaves him to die. These scenes clearly show the use of these two tools that Poe used to tell the story of Montresor and
Edgar Allen Poe’s gruesomely fascinating tale of vengeance and murder, “The Cask of Amontillado”, achieves its effect only through its usage of the first person point of view. This unusual perspective enables the reader to view the characters and conflicts through the eyes of the narrator, as he first discusses and justifies, and eventually, carries out his plans for the ruthless murder of his friend. The eerie tone and disorienting and materialistically-related setting of the story contribute to its theme of defending one’s honor and name and avenging all wrongdoings, even something so small as an insult.
5. Burns, William E. Science in the Enlightenment: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2003. Print.
Womack, Martha. “Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado.’” The Poe Decoder. Christoffer Nilsson, 1997. n.pag. Web. 6 Nov. 2011 .
Poe, Edgar Allan. “That Cask of Amontillado.” Ibiblio. U of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.d.
Wolf, Abraham. History of Science, Technology, and Philosophy in the Eighteenth Century. New York: MacMillan Press, 1968. Web. 5 June 2012.
An electric vehicle is different from a gasoline powered vehicle. It is powered instead by an electric motor that receives current from rechargeable storage batteries, or portable sources of electrical energy.
Wolf, A. A History of Science, Technology and Philosophy in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Vol. 2. New York: Harper, 1959.