Ferryman between two cultures: The calling of a historian of science

IF 0.5 4区哲学 Q3 HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Endeavour Pub Date : 2024-03-01 DOI:10.1016/j.endeavour.2024.100916

Klaas van Berkel

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Abstract

In well-established disciplines like history it is not common to find professionals who admit that they are driven by a “calling” or who say they have a “mission” to fulfill. In emerging disciplines, however, the situation is different: in order to gain recognition these new disciplines need highly driven practitioners, who’s calling enables them to overcome opposition or neglect from the side of the established disciplines. A clear example of such a practitioner with a mission in an emerging field of knowledge is the Dutch historian of science Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis (1892–1965). His career as a mathematics teacher, historical scholar, and public intellectual was marked by the desire to re-integrate science and mathematics in culture in general. Dijksterhuis regarded the history of science as a major instrument to bring about this ideal. His magnum opus, The Mechanization of the World Picture (first published in 1950 in Dutch; translated into English in 1961), was the culmination of a lifetime of writing in the service of a cultural vision that can still inspire our own generation.

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两种文化之间的摆渡人科学史学者的使命

在历史学等历史悠久的学科中，很少有专业人员承认他们是受 "召唤 "驱使的，或者说他们有 "使命 "要完成。然而，在新兴学科中，情况则有所不同：为了获得认可，这些新学科需要极具驱动力的从业人员，他们的使命感使他们能够克服来自既有学科方面的反对或忽视。荷兰科学史家爱德华-扬-迪克斯特胡斯（Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis，1892-1965 年）就是这样一位在新兴知识领域肩负使命的实践者的一个明显例子。作为一名数学教师、历史学者和公共知识分子，他的职业生涯以希望将科学和数学重新融入整个文化为标志。戴克斯特胡斯将科学史视为实现这一理想的主要工具。他的巨著《世界图景的机械化》（1950 年首次以荷兰文出版，1961 年译成英文）是他一生为实现文化理想而写作的结晶，至今仍能激励我们这一代人。

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来源期刊

Endeavour 综合性期刊-科学史与科学哲学

CiteScore

1.10

自引率

16.70%

发文量

审稿时长

49 days

期刊介绍： Endeavour, established in 1942, has, over its long and proud history, developed into one of the leading journals in the history and philosophy of science. Endeavour publishes high-quality articles on a wide array of scientific topics from ancient to modern, across all disciplines. It serves as a critical forum for the interdisciplinary exploration and evaluation of natural knowledge and its development throughout history. Each issue contains lavish color and black-and-white illustrations. This makes Endeavour an ideal destination for history and philosophy of science articles with a strong visual component. Endeavour presents the history and philosophy of science in a clear and accessible manner, ensuring the journal is a valuable tool for historians, philosophers, practicing scientists, and general readers. To enable it to have the broadest coverage possible, Endeavour features four types of articles: -Research articles are concise, fully referenced, and beautifully illustrated with high quality reproductions of the most important source material. -In Vivo articles will illustrate the rich and numerous connections between historical and philosophical scholarship and matters of current public interest, and provide rich, readable explanations of important current events from historical and philosophical perspectives. -Book Reviews and Commentaries provide a picture of the rapidly growing history of science discipline. Written by both established and emerging scholars, our reviews provide a vibrant overview of the latest publications and media in the history and philosophy of science. -Lost and Found Pieces are playful and creative short essays which focus on objects, theories, tools, and methods that have been significant to science but underappreciated by collective memory.