Rhetoric and natural history
<br/>This book examines the rhetorical dimension of eighteenth-century natural history. It focuses on the French naturalist and literary stylist Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon, author of the bestselling multi-volume <em>Histoire naturelle</em> (1749-1789). Natural history as Buffo...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Voltaire Foundation
2017
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| Summary: | <br/>This book examines the rhetorical dimension of eighteenth-century natural history. It focuses on the French naturalist and literary stylist Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon, author of the bestselling multi-volume <em>Histoire naturelle</em> (1749-1789). Natural history as Buffon and his contemporaries knew it remains a fascinating object of study for its breadth, its cultural openness, and its disorderly energy. Rhetoric here is understood as a set of techniques for attracting and persuading an audience. As a contribution both to literary studies and to the history of science, <em>Rhetoric and natural history</em> adds to our understanding of the intellectual culture of the French Enlightenment. <br/><br/> Acknowledgment<br/> Abbreviations<br/> Introduction<br/> 1 Style<br/> 2 Final causes<br/> 3 The chain of being <br/> 4 Systems and theories <br/> 5 Mathematics<br/> 6 Nominalism<br/> Conclusion <br/> List of works cited<br/> Index<br/> |
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