Earth Sciences and History in the Work of Correia da Serra (1751-1823)

Ana Simões,Ana Carneiro,Maria Paula Diogo

doi:10.1590/0104-87752017000300005

Ana Simões, Ana Carneiro + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1590/0104-87752017000300005

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Abstract

Abstract This paper focuses on the contribution to the earth sciences of the Portuguese botanist and "Europeanized intellectual" Abbé José Francisco Correia da Serra (1751-1823). Considerations on the earth sciences are present since the very early days of Correia da Serra's career, revealing an integrated vision of Man and Nature as dynamical parts of the same whole, which shapes the world inhabited by humans. The symbiosis between the natural and the human became central to the epistemological and methodological agenda of Correia da Serra, informing his historical considerations, first on the history of Portugal, followed by the history of Europe. In this paper, we explore how the parallel reflections on the earth sciences and history unfold by testing the operative import of the concept of "moving localities" in interpreting them jointly as ways of historicizing nature and naturalizing history.

Highlights

The Portuguese naturalist Abbé Correia da Serra (1751-1823) was one among many Portuguese “Europeanized” intellectuals — estrangeirados, who travelled far and wide often to evade political or religious persecutions (Macedo, 1979; Palma-Ferreira, 1987; Miranda, 1990; Simões; Carneiro; Diogo, 1999; Carneiro; Simões; Diogo, 2000)
This paper focuses on the contribution to the earth sciences of the Portuguese botanist and “Europeanized intellectual” Abbé José Francisco Correia da Serra (1751-1823)
Like with the human world, the diversity of the natural world was historicized, and the static “natural history” of the earth gave way to a temporal history (Rudwick, 1996, p.280-281; Oldroyd, 1979, p.192-213, p.227-257). We argue that this trend announced an increasing historicization of nature, which can be identified in Correia da Serra’s incursions in the earth sciences, thereby corroborating Rudwick’s claim that the historical element in “natural history” was present even before geognosy was transformed by the use of the fossil criterion (Rudwick, 1996, p.280-281)

Summary

Introduction

The Portuguese naturalist Abbé Correia da Serra (1751-1823) was one among many Portuguese “Europeanized” intellectuals — estrangeirados —, who travelled far and wide often to evade political or religious persecutions (Macedo, 1979; Palma-Ferreira, 1987; Miranda, 1990; Simões; Carneiro; Diogo, 1999; Carneiro; Simões; Diogo, 2000). Building on our knowledge of Correia da Serra’s scientific contributions and impact, in this paper we argue that one cannot write a nuanced and complex history of the sciences in Europe in its relation to the world on the basis of a small group of great luminaries or grand narratives of individual successes It is by changing the focus of analysis to clusters of scientists absent from mainstream standard narratives that a richer picture emerges. Among other outcomes, STEP’s recent reassessments have given rise to the proposal of “moving localities” as a new historiographical concept meant to deepen the creative strength of circulation as a continuous process of knowledge production, which should not

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