Geography and Enlightenment

by David N. Livingstone, Charles W. J. Withers

Overview

Geography and Enlightenment explores both the Enlightenment as a geographical phenomenon and the place of geography in the Enlightenment. From wide-ranging disciplinary and topical perspectives, contributors consider the many ways in which the world of the long eighteenth century was brought to view and shaped through map and text, exploration and argument, within and across spatial and intellectual borders.

The first set of chapters charts the intellectual and geographical contexts in which Enlightenment ideas began to form, including both the sites in which knowledge was created and discussed and the different means used to investigate the globe. Detailed explorations of maps created during this period show how these new ways of representing the world and its peoples influenced conceptions of the nature and progress of human societies, while studies of the travels of people and ideas reveal the influence of far-flung places on Enlightenment science and scientific credibility. The final set of chapters emphasizes the role of particular local contexts in Enlightenment thought.

Contributors are Michael T. Bravo, Paul Carter, Denis Cosgrove, Stephen Daniels, Matthew Edney, Anne Marie Claire Godlewska, Peter Gould, Michael Heffernan, David N. Livingstone, Dorinda Outram, Chris Philo, Roy Porter, Nicolaas Rupke, Susanne Seymour, Charles Watkins, and Charles W. J. Withers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226487205
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	12/15/1999
Series:	Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing Series
Edition description:	1
Pages:	455
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

David N. Livingstone is professor of geography and intellectual history at the Queen's University of Belfast. Charles W. J. Withers is professor of geography at the University of Edinburgh. The editors have collaborated previously on Geography and Enlightenment, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: On Geography and Enlightenment
Charles W.J. Withers and David N. Livingstone
Beginnings
2. Global Illumination and Enlightenment in the Geographies of Vincenzo Coronelli and Athanasius Kircher
Denis Cosgrove
3. Geography, Enlightenment, and the Paradise Question
Charles W.J. Withers
4. Geographical Inquiry, Rational Religion, and Moral Philosophy: Enlightenment Discourses on the Human Condition
David N. Livingstone
Mappings
5. Historical Geographies of the Future: Three Perspectives from France, 1750-1825
Michael Heffernan
6. Reconsidering Enlightenment Geography and Map Making: Reconnaissance, Mapping, Archive
Matthew H. Edney
7. Ethnographic Navigation and the Geographical Gift
Michael T. Bravo
8. From Enlightenment Vision to Modern Science? Humboldt's Visual Thinking
Anne Marie Claire Godlewska
Travelings
9. On Being Perseus: New Knowledge, Dislocation, and Enlightenment Exploration
Dorinda Outram
10. Gaps in Knowledge: The Geography of Human Reason
Paul Carter
11. A Geography of Enlightenment: The Critical Reception of Alexander von Humboldt's Mexico Work
Nicolaas Rupke
Placings
12. Enlightenment, Improvement, and the Geographies of Horticulture in Later Georgian England
Stephen Daniels, Susanne Seymour, and Charles Watkins
13. Edinburgh, Enlightenment, and the Geographies of Unreason
Chris Philo
14. Lisbon 1755: Enlightenment, Catastrophe, and Communication
Peter Gould
Afterword
Roy Porter
Notes on Contributors
Index

Editorial Reviews

Exploring both the Enlightenment as a geographical phenomenon and the place of geography in the Enlightenment, 14 papers from a July 1996 conference in Edinburgh survey the many ways in which the world of the long 18th century was shaped through map, text, exploration, and argument and within and across spatial and intellectual borders. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews