Sunday, May 3, 2009

strange facts

The authors begin the chapter by addressing the new wave of people that are getting involved with wonderous things.  At this point in time there are more people that are able to advance their knowledge through learning about curious things.  On page 218 the authors write: "Title pages of works in natural history and natural philosophy began to address themselves to 'the curious' or 'the ingenious' of Europe."  They go to explain that this group of people "constituted themselves as self-declared, cosmopolitan elite, one which spanned national and confessional boundaries, and which was the immediate ancestor of the Republic of Letters of the Enlightenment."  Today, who would the curious be?  Is it a particular group of people with specific characteristics (such as intellectuals) or is everyone considered to be curious?  And is there a specific subject matter (such as natural philosophy or science) that the curious are interested in?  Or have we, in modern days, expanded the subject matter to include any and or everything?

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