Abstract
Despite his polemics against the sciences, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) pursues plant studies experimentally during expeditions on foot. While he rejects the experimental science of chemistry in favour of botany, this rejection of chemistry does not entail a rejection of experimentation. Rather, Rousseau objects to the avarice with which he believed chemistry was contaminated. Yet, despite its association with a discredited science, the chemistry laboratory inspires Rousseau’s declaration that the fields adorned with flowers provide the botanist’s “only laboratory”. Proceeding from an eighteenth-century understanding of “experiment” as “test”, Rousseau and his collaborators test others’ reports during their botanical expeditions; (2) use instruments as aids to the senses, and (3) carefully organize the work to be done. These botanical expeditions are likewise experimental in their open-endedness.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Acknowledgements
The research presented in this article was financed by a General Research Fund grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. HKU 743711H). The author wishes to thank an anonymous reviewer for several suggestions that greatly improved the final version.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cook, A. (2016). An Idea Ahead of Its Time: Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Mobile Botanical Laboratory. In: Klemun, M., Spring, U. (eds) Expeditions as Experiments. Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58106-8_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58106-8_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-58105-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-58106-8
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)