Abstract

NIETO, Mauricio; CASTANO, Paola  and  OJEDA, Diana. ‘The influence of climate on living beings' and the enlightened rhetoric of the Semanario del Nuevo Reyno de Granada . hist.crit. [online]. 2005, n.30, pp.91-114. ISSN 0121-1617.

On the basis of an analysis of the debate about the influence of climate on living beings that took place in the Semanario del Nuevo Reyno de Granada, this article aims to illustrate the social and political character of natural sciences in Spanish America during the first decades of the 19th century. The text offers a description of the argumentative resources employed in this debate and the ways in which reliable knowledge and credible arguments were built. In this sense, it also demonstrates how subjects with both scientific and political authority, the enlightened creoles, were constructed. The article poses a discussion about the rules ofthe game of enlightened knowledge arguing that notions such as ‘nature', ‘technology' and‘society' are inseparable.

Keywords : Rhetoric; climate; Enlightenment; knowledge; Semanario del Nuevo Reino de Granada; Francisco José de Caldas.

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