Contained in:
Book Chapter

Albrecht von Haller’s Self-Reviews and Style of Reasoning

  • Claire Gantet

Despite the review ethos introduced by the physician Albrecht von Haller when he took over the Göttingische gelehrte Nachrichten as chief editor in 1747, he wrote many self-reviews. This article examines von Haller’s numerous self-reviews in order to explore the aims of reviewing, the openness of scholarship, the relationship between reviewing and truth, and the scientific language used, which can be summarised as what Marco Sgarbi, in a stimulating article, has called a “style of reasoning.” Reviews and self-reviews did not develop as an autonomous genre, but were integrated into a system of intermediality in which publications, reviews, (semi-)private letters and images responded to one another. They were primarily aimed at correcting and advancing science in the complexity of his intellectual, personal and cultural options.

  • Keywords:
  • Albrecht von Haller,
  • style of reasoning,
  • scholarly journals,
  • reviews,
  • scientific illustration,
  • anatomy,
+ Show More

Claire Gantet

University of Fribourg, Switzerland - ORCID: 0000-0002-0553-0735

  1. Bellingradt, Daniel and Rospocher, Massimo. 2021. “The Intermediality of Early Modern Communication. An Introduction.” Cheiron 2: 5–29.
  2. Catherine, Florence. 2012. La Pratique et les réseaux savants d’Albrecht von Haller, vecteurs du transfert culturel entre les espaces français et germaniques au XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Honoré Champion.
  3. Catherine, Florence. 2013. “Usurped Intentions: The Reception of Albrecht von Haller’s Writings in France.” In André Holenstein, Hubert Steinke and Martin Stuber (eds.). Scholars in Action. The Practice of Knowledge and the Figure of the Savant in the 18th Century, 237–252. Leiden: Brill.
  4. Gantet, Claire. 2018. “Leibniz, les périodiques et l’espace savant.” Archives internationales d’histoire des sciences 68: 230–262.
  5. Gantet, Claire and Krämer, Fabian. 2021. “Wie man mehr als 9000 Rezensionen schreiben kann. Lesen und Rezensieren in der Zeit Albrecht von Hallers.” Historische Zeitschrift 312: 364–399.
  6. Gierl, Martin. 2013. The ‘Gelehrte Zeitung’: the Presentation of Knowledge, the Representation of Göttingen University, and the Praxis of Self-Reviews in the Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen, in Jeanne Peiffer, Maria Conforti, Patrizia Delpiano (eds.), Scholarly Journals in early modern Europe. Communication and the Construction of Knowledge, special issue of Archives internationals d’histoire des sciences, 63: 321–341.
  7. Goldgar, Anne. 1995. Impolite Learning. Conduct and Community in the Republic of Letters, 1680–1750. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press.
  8. Guthke, Karl S. 1962. Haller und die Literatur. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
  9. Guthke, Karl S. 1973. “Haller und die Bibliothèque raisonnée.” Jahrbuch des freien Deutschen Hochstifts: 1–13.
  10. Habel, Thomas. 2007. Gelehrte Journale und Zeitungen der Aufklärung. Zur Entstehung, Entwicklung und Erschließung deutschsprachiger Rezensionszeitschriften des 18. Jahrhunderts. Bremen: Edition Lumière.
  11. Hacking, Ian. 1992. “‘Style’ for Historians and Philosophers,” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 23: 1–20.
  12. Haller, Albrecht von. Icones anatomicae, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck, 1744–1756.
  13. Haller, Albrecht von. 1760. Mémoires sur la nature sensible et irritable des parties du corps animal. vol. IV, Lausanne: Sigismond d’Arnay.
  14. Holenstein, André, Steinke, Hubert and Stuber, Martin (eds.). 2013. Scholars in Action. The Practice of Knowledge and the Figure of the Savant in the 18th Century. Leiden: Brill.
  15. Krämer, Fabian. 2014. Ein Zentaur in London. Lektüre und Beobachtung in der frühneuzeitlichen Naturforschung, Munich: Didymos.
  16. Lagarrigue, Bruno. 1993. Un Temple de la culture européenne (1728–1753). L’histoire externe de la Bibliothèque raisonnée des savants de l’Europe. Nijmegen: s.e.
  17. Léchot, Timothée. 2017. “L’extrait et ses fonctions dans la presse d’Ancien Régime.” In Adrien Rannaud (ed.). Le livre et le journal : croisements, prolongements et transformations / The Book and the Periodical: Intersections, Extensions and Transformations, Mémoires du livre / Studies in book culture 8/2, DOI: 10.7202/1039696ar
  18. Mulsow, Martin. 2022. Knowledge Lost: A New View of Early Modern Intellectual History. Princeton: Princeton University Press (German 1st ed. 2012).
  19. Profos Frick, Claudia. 2009. Gelehrte Kritik. Albrecht von Hallers literarische-wissenschaftliche Rezensionen in den Göttingischen Gelehrten Anzeigen. Basel: Schwabe.
  20. Rey, Anne-Lise. 2017. “Agonistic and Epistemic Pluralisms: A New Interpretation of the Dispute between Emilie du Châtelet and Dortous de Mairan.” Paragraph 40/1: 43–60.
  21. Saada, Anne. 2019. “La construction de Göttingen au carrefour de l’Europe. Enjeux, signification et mise en œuvre.” In Claire Gantet and Markus Meumann (eds.). Les échanges savants franco-allemands au XVIIIe siècle. Transferts, circulations et réseaux: 189–203. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes.
  22. Rüdiger Schultka, Josef N. Neumann (eds.). 2007. Anatomie und anatomische Sammlungen im 18. Jahrhundert. Berlin et al.: Lit.
  23. Sciortino, Luca. 2017. “On Ian Hacking’s Notion of Style of Reasoning,” Erkenntnis 82: 243–64.
  24. Sgarbi, Marco. 2024. “Reviewing as a New Style of Reasoning in the Early Modern Period.” Nuncius, forthcoming.
  25. Steinke, Hubert. 2013. “Albrecht von Haller, patron dans son réseau : le rôle de la correspondance dans les controverses scientifiques.” Revue d’histoire des sciences 66/2: 325–359.
  26. Steinke, Hubert. 2005a. Irritating Experiments. Haller’s Concept and the European Controversy on Irritability and Sensibility, 1750–90, Leiden: Brill. DOI: 10.1163/9789004332980
  27. Steinke, Hubert. 2005b. “Der Patron im Netz. Die Rolle des Briefwechsels in wissenschaftlichen Kontroversen.” In Stuber, Martin, Hächler, Stefan and Lienhard, Luc (eds.). Hallers Netz. Ein Europäischer Gelehrtenbriefwechsel zur Zeit der Aufklärung: 441–462. Basel: Schwabe.
  28. Steinke, Hubert and Profos, Claudia (eds.). 2004. Bibliographia Halleriana. Verzeichnis der Schriften von und über Albrecht von Haller. Basel: Schwabe.
  29. Steinke, Hubert, Boschung, Urs and Pross, Wolfgang (eds.). 2008. Albrecht von Haller. Leben – Werk – Epoche. Göttingen: Wallstein.
  30. Stuber, Martin. 2004. “Journal and Letter: The Interaction between Two Communications Media in the Correspondence of Albrecht von Haller.” In Hans-Jurgen Lusebrink and Jeremy D. Popkin (eds.), Enlightenment, Revolution and the Periodical Press: 114–141. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  31. Stuber, Martin, Hächler, Stefan and Lienhard, Luc (eds.). 2005. Hallers Netz. Ein Europäischer Gelehrtenbriefwechsel zur Zeit der Aufklärung, Basel: Schwabe.
  32. Vittu, Jean-Pierre. 2002. “La formation d’une institution scientifique. Le Journal des Savants de 1665 à 1714 [Second article. L’instrument central de la République des Lettres].” Journal des savants: 349–377.
  33. Vittu, Jean-Pierre. 2005. “Du Journal des Savants aux Mémoires pour l’histoire des sciences et des beaux-arts. L’esquisse d’un système européen des périodiques savants.” Dix-septième siècle 228: 527–545.
  34. Zedelmaier, Helmut. 2019. “Le zèle érudit. Remarques sur un cliché franco-allemand.” In Claire Gantet und Markus Meumann (eds.). Les échanges savants franco-allemands au XVIIIe siècle. Transferts, circulations et réseaux: 87–99. Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes.
PDF
  • Publication Year: 2025
  • Pages: 33-56
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2025 Author(s)

XML
  • Publication Year: 2025
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2025 Author(s)

Chapter Information

Chapter Title

Albrecht von Haller’s Self-Reviews and Style of Reasoning

Authors

Claire Gantet

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0573-3.03

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2025

Copyright Information

© 2025 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

Philosophical Reviews in German Territories (1668-1799)

Book Subtitle

Volume 1

Editors

Marco Sgarbi

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

162

Publication Year

2025

Copyright Information

© 2025 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0573-3

ISBN Print

979-12-215-0572-6

eISBN (pdf)

979-12-215-0573-3

eISBN (epub)

979-12-215-0574-0

Series Title

Knowledge and its Histories

0

Fulltext
downloads

0

Views

Export Citation

1,374

Open Access Books

in the Catalogue

2,545

Book Chapters

4,035,911

Fulltext
downloads

4,923

Authors

from 1036 Research Institutions

of 66 Nations

70

scientific boards

from 375 Research Institutions

of 44 Nations

1,258

Referees

from 383 Research Institutions

of 38 Nations