From one Knowledge to Another. James Peacock Architect, Inventor and Social Scientist in England during the Enlightenment

  • Guglielmo Sanna
Keywords: Enlightenment, Eighteenth century Britain, James Peacock, George Dance, filtration by ascention, Philanthropic Society, Philanthropism, Beneficence, Robert Young, social reform, social sciences, eighteenth century Britain

Abstract

James Peacock was a many-sided expression of an era of eclecticism of knowledges and skills. This article traces his experience as an architect, an inventor and a social scientist. His orderly vision of a world governable through numbers, the curiosity for the "attainable" and the "possible", his utilitarianism oriented towards social justice and his anxiety for the problems of the times, qualify him, while helping us to understand the workings of that polite and phenomenal Enlightenment which led British society to assert a strong presence not only in Europe.

Published
2023-11-02
Section
Researches and studies