During the scientific revolution knowledge and
its proliferation by way of print media acted as a means of establishing and
garnering power. No longer accepting the divine tenets of religion as absolute
truth, people throughout Europe began to seek understanding of the world on an
independent basis through exploration, classification and study. The result of
this steadfast pursuit for objective truth during the time between the 16th
-19th centuries was the widespread propagation of knowledge through published
works, art, presentation, and other forms of spectacle. As these “objectively”
derived scientific explanations of the world permeated the minds and
understandings of everyday people throughout Europe and the world at large
“knowledge” began to manifest itself as a potent form of political and social
power, dictating the way individuals and entire societies interacted with each
other.
The three of us have each pursued a topic that
uniquely investigates the role of knowledge as power in Europe during the
scientific revolution and Enlightenment age...
