Scientific experiments [ Politics & Society / Science ]
… as a microcosm of the restored social order in England after the upheavals of the civil wars and interregnum. At its meetings, experiments were performed for an assembly of witnesses who could freely assent to the truth of what they saw. … literary societies, student clubs, subscription libraries, and local improvement societies flourished, sometimes meeting in private dwellings but more usually in hired rooms in coffeehouses, inns, or taverns. Scientific topics were … individuals could socialize on an equal basis. It does not appear that experiments were performed in the society’s meetings, but empirical facts were frequently discussed. The members coalesced around acceptance of what were sometimes …
Audience | Coffeehouses | Conversation | Public sphere | Science
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