Empire of Reason: Exact Sciences in Indonesia 1840-1940 (Brill's Studies in Intellectual History)

For hundreds of years, dispassionate observers of Western civilization have noted Dutch intellectual achievements. Why this is so during the modern period will be suggested in what follows. The matter is of intrinsic, general interest, although it has unfortunately been neglected. Scholars, by nature timid and ponderous, do perceive that matters of cultural leadership transcend the accidents of linguistic demography, but the perception has done little to extend Dutch history beyond a relatively small circle of specialists and patriots. The usual motivations for studying a particular culture and period find little place in the following pages. The present volume, conceived in a subpolar and provincial environment lacking most of the relevant sources, originates in something other than specialist or patriotic ardor. It has been undertaken as part of an investigation of the exact sciences and cultural imperialism in the post-industrial period. A discussion of parameters and limits may be read in the introduction to a companion work, but it is not irrelevant to reconsider some of the points here. List of Abbreviations On Sources and Names Preface 1. Imperious Metropolitan Knowledge Masters: A Golden Age of Science The Background to a Colonial Scientific Culture Shadows: Projection and Adaptation Western Science Embedded 2. Stars of the Southern Heavens The Dutch Background to Colonial Astronomy Science and Empire: Practical Knowledge and Pure Learning The International Dimensions of Colonial Research Imperial Science in the Service of Metropolitan Ambitions The Return of the Native Interests and Desires of the Metropolitan Astronomers Machinations of an Eastern Maecenas Imperial Dreams of the Leiden Observers Joan Voûte's Karma 3. Islands of Earthly Wonders The Decision to Gather Geophysical Knowledge The Academic The Professional The Gentleman Science, Politics, and the Patrician Impulse Metropolitan Interests and the Prosecution of Pure Learning Government Professionals and Private Patrons The Transition to Questions of General Importance Limitations of Pure Learning in a Colonial Setting Ultraviolet Illumination Gravimetry and Isostasy 4. Knowledge Radiant and Resplendent The Private Institute of Technology The Making of a Colonial Physicist The Tropical Institute of Pure Physics The Latitude of Scientific Priority A Tradition of Research Institutionalized Medical Education in Indonesia The Essence of a Scientific 'Echtpaar' Metropolitan Origins of Colonial Radiologists Radiology in an Eastern Setting Light in the Tropics 5. Tenebrous Colonial Visions The Theatre of Pure Science Intentional Filiation: The Civilizing Imperative Index By Lewis Pyenson. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.