- Philosophical Reviews in German Territories (1668-1799)
- A cura di Marco Sgarbi
Knowledge in Motion: The Circulation of Maupertuis’s Discours sur les différentes figures des astres (1732) between Switzerland and Germany
- Marco Storni
- © 2025 Author(s) |
- CC BY 4.0
- DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-0573-3.04
This paper explores the circulation of philosophical ideas in the early modern period by examining the elaboration and reception of Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis’s Discours sur les différentes figures des astres (1732), widely regarded as the first Newtonian treatise ever published in France. Drawing on insights from cultural history, I argue that the circulation of knowledge was not only an intellectual process, but also involved practical and material factors. In particular, I emphasise the role of personal networks, such as that of Johann Bernoulli, in facilitating the dissemination of scientific and philosophical books across Europe. The paper also highlights the importance of reviews as a medium for engaging with new knowledge, influencing debates, and extending intellectual controversies beyond national borders. The example of Christian Wolff’s review of the Discours published in the Nova Acta Eruditorum in 1733 is used to illustrate the potential of reviews to “territorialise” – in Wolff’s case, “Germanise” – a foreign natural-philosophical debate.
- Keywords:
- circulation of knowledge,
- Newtonianism,
- Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis,
- Johann Bernoulli,
- Christian Wolff,
- philosophical reviews.,
Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium - ORCID: 0000-0003-2500-7607
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Informazioni sul capitolo
Titolo del capitolo
Knowledge in Motion: The Circulation of Maupertuis’s Discours sur les différentes figures des astres (1732) between Switzerland and Germany
Autori
Marco Storni
Lingua
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0573-3.04
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Anno di pubblicazione
2025
Copyright
© 2025 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Informazioni bibliografiche
Titolo del libro
Philosophical Reviews in German Territories (1668-1799)
Sottotitolo del libro
Volume 1
Curatori
Marco Sgarbi
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Numero di pagine
162
Anno di pubblicazione
2025
Copyright
© 2025 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Editore
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
Collana
Knowledge and its Histories