Natural philosophy and the origins of the British Empire, c.1600-c.1700
This thesis is an attempt to bring the history of early modern science to bear upon the intellectual origins of the British Empire. I argue that there is an intellectual tradition of empire which has been overlooked by British Empire scholarship. This is an idea of manâs empire over the natural world, and stems from the Biblical narrative in the book of Genesis. In the Garden of Eden, God endowed Adam with mastery over the earth which was encapsulated in the command to âbe fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and have an empire over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.â (Gen. 1:28). In the Fall from Eden, however, Adam lost his omniscience, and consequently his earthy dominion. The idea that manâs task was to recover his original empire over nature was developed in a tradition of natural philosophy stretching from Francis Bacon (1561-1626) to John Locke (1632-1704). The thesis investigates whether natural philosophersâ commitment to the restoration of manâs original empire over nature was connected to contemporary ideas of colonial empire-building. In short, what was the relationship between the concepts of geographic empire and
Irving, S. L.
Natural philosophy and the origins of the British Empire, c.1600-c.1700. This thesis is an attempt to bring the history of early modern science to bear upon the intellectual origins of the British Empire. I argue that there is an intellectual tradition of empire which has been overlooked by British Empire scholarship. This is an idea of manâs empire over the natural world, and stems from the Biblical narrative in the book of Genesis. In the Garden of Eden, God endowed Adam with mastery over the earth which was encapsulated in the command to âbe fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and have an empire over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.â (Gen. 1:28). In the Fall from Eden, however, Adam lost his omniscience, and consequently his earthy dominion. The idea that manâs task was to recover his original empire over nature was developed in a tradition of natural philosophy stretching from Francis Bacon (1561-1626) to John Locke (1632-1704). The thesis investigates whether natural philosophersâ commitment to the restoration of manâs original empire over nature was connected to contemporary ideas of colonial empire-building. In short, what was the relationship between the concepts of geographic empire and
natural_philosophy origin british_empire attempt_bring history early_modern science bear_upon intellectual origin british_empire argue intellectual_tradition empire overlook british_empire scholarship idea man empire natural_world stem biblical_narrative book genesis garden god endow mastery earth encapsulate command fertile increase fill earth master empire fish sea bird live thing earth gen fall however lose consequently dominion idea man task recover original empire nature develop tradition natural_philosophy stretch john_locke investigates_whether natural philosopher commitment restoration man original empire nature connect contemporary idea colonial empire building short relationship concept geographic empire