The Zeeuwsch Genootschap and the Formation of its Correspondence Network
The production of this new knowledge by academies has often been interpreted
in the light of 'the' Enlightenment. However, this is a problematic ex post facto la
belling of the 18th century in European history.8 Dorinda Outram argues that 'the'
Enlightenment was not a 'unitary phenomenon' which replaced faith with ratio
nality, but rather that Enlightenment is like 'a capsule containing sets of debates
which appear to be characteristic of the way in which ideas and opinions interac
ted with society and politics.' 9 Jeremy Caradonna also claims that there is no such
thing as 'the' Enlightenment.10 He understands Enlightenment as a 'conceptual
unit' which, from a cultural perspective, entails all intellectual practices of the 18th
century.11 Following Caradonna's and Outram's interpretations of Enlightenment
as a practice, the academies of the 18th century can be studied by identifying the
processes leading to practical knowledge.
In his book Science Reorganized, James McClennan focuses primarily on the
role of academies in the progress of science by describing different practices of the
academies. These practices include lectures, debates during meetings, publishing
of journals, organising of competitions, and financing of expeditions - all efforts
that contributed to the exchange of ideas.12 Although the approach of studying
academies in light of the history of science is commonly employed, it is debatable
whether this is the best perspective to study academies. Caradonna reveals in his
analysis of the concours in France that the academies did not only discuss topics
that relate to what is considered science today, but that an integral part of their
studies also involved subjects like theology, art and philosophy.13 Therefore, acad
emies should not just be considered in light of the history of science, but rather
of the history of knowledge - a relatively new subfield in the discipline of history.
Peter Burke was one of the first to write about the history of knowledge, a field
of study that became increasingly popular from the 1990s onwards.14 According
to Wolfgang Krohn, knowledge is the result of the process of making sense of
98
8 Jeremy L. Caradonna, The Enlightenment in Practice: Academic Price Contests and Intellectual
Culture in France, 1670-1794. London: Cornell University Press, 2012, 9; Dorinda Outram, The
Enlightenment. Cambridge University Press, 2019, 7.
9 Outram, Enlightenment, 3, 7.
10 Caradonna, Enlightenment in Practice, 9.
11 Caradonna, Enlightenment in Practice, 11-12.
12 James McClellan, Science Reorganized: Scientific Societies in the Eighteenth Century. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1985, 1.
13 Caradonna, Enlightenment in Practice, 44.
14 Peter Burke, What is the History of Knowledge. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2016, 9-10.
