History of Science, History of Text

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxvii

   PDF

2. What is a Text?

   1. Spatial Organization of Ancient Chinese Texts (Preliminary Remarks)

      • Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann

      Pages 3-47

3. The Constitution of Scientific Texts: from Draft to Opera Omnia

   1. Leibniz and the Use of Manuscripts: Text as Process

      • Eberhard Knobloch

      Pages 51-79

   2. Opera Omnia: The Production of Cultural Authority

      • Michael Cahn

      Pages 81-94

   3. Writing Works: A Reaction to Michael Cahn’s Paper

      • Hans-Jörg Rheinberger

      Pages 95-103

4. How Scientific and Technical Texts Adhere to Local Cultures

   1. Text, Representation and Technique in Early Modern China

      • Craig Clunas

      Pages 107-121

   2. The Algebraic Art of Discourse Algebraic Dispositio, Invention and Imitation in Sixteenth-Century France

      • Giovanna C. Cifoletti

      Pages 123-135

   3. Ancient Sanskrit Mathematics: An Oral Tradition and a Written Literature

      • Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat

      Pages 137-157

5. Reading Texts

   1. The Limits of Text in Greek Mathematics

      • Reviel Netz

      Pages 161-176

   2. Reading Strasbourg 368: A Thrice-Told Tale

      • Jim Ritter

      Pages 177-200

   3. What is the Content of This Book? A Plea for Developing History of Science and History of Text Conjointly

      • Karine Chemla

      Pages 201-230

6. Epilogue

   1. Knowledge and its Artifacts

      • David R. Olson

      Pages 231-245

7. Back Matter

   Pages 247-266

   PDF

two main (interacting) ways. They constitute that with which exploration into problems or questions is carried out. But they also constitute that which is exchanged between scholars or, in other terms, that which is shaped by one (or by some) for use by others. In these various dimensions, texts obviously depend on the means and technologies available for producing, reproducing, using and organizing writings. In this regard, the contribution of a history of text is essential in helping us approach the various historical contexts from which our sources originate. However, there is more to it. While shaping texts as texts, the practitioners of the sciences may create new textual resources that intimately relate to the research carried on. One may think, for instance, of the process of introduction of formulas in mathematical texts. This aspect opens up a wholerangeofextremelyinterestingquestionstowhichwewillreturnatalaterpoint.But practitioners of the sciences also rely on texts producedby themselves or others, which they bring into play in various ways. More generally, they make use of textual resources of every kind that is available to them, reshaping them, restricting, or enlarging them. Among these, one can think of ways of naming, syntax of statements or grammatical analysis, literary techniques, modes of shaping texts or parts of text, genres of text and so on.Inthissense,thepractitionersdependon,anddrawon,the“textualcultures”available to the social and professional groups to which they belong.

• Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
• History of Mathematics
• antiquity
• discourse
• science
• seventeenth century

From the reviews:

"Chemla conceives of a domain of research, the history of text, that should be of great use to the history of science, in particular the history of mathematics. … Containing highly interesting documentation most relevant to the case studies … it represents an invaluable source of information for the historian and the philosopher of mathematics." (Norma B. Goethe, Historia Mathematica, Vol. 35, 2008)

• REHSEIS — CNRS & University Paris 7, Paris

  Karine Chemla

Policies and ethics