Experimentation in the agricultural EnlightenmentPlace, profit and norms of knowledge-making in eighteenth-century Germany. (20th June 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Phillips, Denise
• Is Part Of: Notes & records of the Royal Society of London. Volume 72:Number 2(2018)
• Page Start: 159
• Page End: 172
• Publication Date: 2018-06-20
• Subjects: agricultural improvement -- experimentation -- Economic Enlightenment -- oeconomy; Science -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 506
• DOI: 10.1098/rsnr.2018.0011
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0035-9149

Abstract

Abstract : Most research into history of eighteenth-century experimentation has focused on the instrument-based traditions of natural philosophers and chemists. This article explores an alternate, but related, tradition: the experiments carried out by agricultural improvers. While authors interested in improving farming were aware of natural philosophical practices, they self-consciously devised different strategies in their own forms of experimentation. Experiments in the chemical and physical sciences generally sought to find universal laws operative everywhere; agricultural experimentation often explored the particular possibilities of a given place. The cost and likely economic success of an experiment was also worked explicitly into its design.