As technology is commonly defined as the application of science , Steven Shapin’s “literary technology’ describing the experiments produced by natural philosophers of the seventeenth century can be argued as a form of ‘technology’. Natural philosopher, Robert Boyle, whom we would today refer to as a scientist, established a set of guidelines for literary technology in generating knowledge. Therefore, the literary technology promotes scientific communication as a means of producing knowledge to a newly established scientific public.
One aspect, which illustrates that language is technology, is evident through Boyle’s Air Pump experiments as it provided new knowledge about the behaviour of air once it was evacuated from the atmosphere. Boyle’s experiment concerned the observation of the effects of air on animals when it was removed and reintroduced, this was carried out using the pneumatic engine that included a glass ‘receiver’ where the air was pumped out of. As Boyle published his experiments in the form of letters like the New Experiments of 1660 it enabled readers to …show more content…
Virtual witnessing served to constitute that matters of fact are not man made and that the scientific text was a means for providing a reflection of knowledge produced during an experiment. Boyle’s use of diagrams in his literary text, such as the image of the Air Pump in his New Experiments, provided a representation of a man made machine and as Shapin argued the images reinforced that the experiments were actually carried out and performed in the way stated. This serves to demonstrate that the knowledge produced during the experiment was not man made. Thus, natural philosophers could convince other experimentalists that their claims were valid and communicate scientific knowledge to a wider group of
One aspect, which illustrates that language is technology, is evident through Boyle’s Air Pump experiments as it provided new knowledge about the behaviour of air once it was evacuated from the atmosphere. Boyle’s experiment concerned the observation of the effects of air on animals when it was removed and reintroduced, this was carried out using the pneumatic engine that included a glass ‘receiver’ where the air was pumped out of. As Boyle published his experiments in the form of letters like the New Experiments of 1660 it enabled readers to …show more content…
Virtual witnessing served to constitute that matters of fact are not man made and that the scientific text was a means for providing a reflection of knowledge produced during an experiment. Boyle’s use of diagrams in his literary text, such as the image of the Air Pump in his New Experiments, provided a representation of a man made machine and as Shapin argued the images reinforced that the experiments were actually carried out and performed in the way stated. This serves to demonstrate that the knowledge produced during the experiment was not man made. Thus, natural philosophers could convince other experimentalists that their claims were valid and communicate scientific knowledge to a wider group of