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If "Managing an Experimental Household: the Dees of Mortlake and the Practice of Natural Philosophy" sounded interesting to you too, you don't need JSTOR access

by cfcef 11y ago

If "Managing an Experimental Household: the Dees of Mortlake and the Practice of Natural Philosophy" sounded interesting to you too, you don't need JSTOR access: http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic472431.files/WK11Harkness.pdf http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic472431.files/WK11...

benbreen 11y ago
Thanks for that, I'll change the link. It's a fantastic paper and Harkness's book length study of John Dee is even better. I was actually planning on doing my PhD work on Dee until I read it and realized that the book I wanted to write pretty much already existed: http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/history-science-and-technology/john-dees-conversations-angels-cabala-alchemy-and-end-nature http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/histor...
- hackercomplex 11y ago
  I'm curious, what causes you to be interested in John Dee's work as opposed to say the output of any modern 'spirit channeler' or 'UFO contactee' ? Is Dee's work academically interesting to you simply because of how it's embedded historically with the British empire or is there some other factor ?
  - benbreen 11y ago
    One of the things I find so fascinating about him is that he was also one of the leading English mathematicians of his generation (his "Mathematical Preface" to the first English edition of Euclid would've made him important even without any of the magic/occult stuff) and according to one book historian he also had one of the largest private libraries in all of Europe. So he's important as a Renaissance polymath and not just as someone who thought they were channelling sprits. Which in turn sheds light on why someone like Newton would have a similar range of interests. The British imperial stuff was going to be my focus though, because of the fact that he was an original partner with Sir Walter Raleigh in his attempts to settle colonies in the New World. Plus (along with Merlin) he's essentially the archetype of the wizard in pop culture!
    - hackercomplex 11y ago
      oh yea I almost forgot about pop culture. There's the Bond connection to boot. Hell sometimes I theorize that maybe somehow almost the entire artifice of western pop culture was conjured up by Dee and associates in some kind of.. well I dare not speculate too far.

by cfcef 11y ago

benbreen 11y ago

Thanks for that, I'll change the link. It's a fantastic paper and Harkness's book length study of John Dee is even better. I was actually planning on doing my PhD work on Dee until I read it and realized that the book I wanted to write pretty much already existed: http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/history-science-and-technology/john-dees-conversations-angels-cabala-alchemy-and-end-nature http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/histor...

hackercomplex 11y ago
I'm curious, what causes you to be interested in John Dee's work as opposed to say the output of any modern 'spirit channeler' or 'UFO contactee' ? Is Dee's work academically interesting to you simply because of how it's embedded historically with the British empire or is there some other factor ?
- benbreen 11y ago
  One of the things I find so fascinating about him is that he was also one of the leading English mathematicians of his generation (his "Mathematical Preface" to the first English edition of Euclid would've made him important even without any of the magic/occult stuff) and according to one book historian he also had one of the largest private libraries in all of Europe. So he's important as a Renaissance polymath and not just as someone who thought they were channelling sprits. Which in turn sheds light on why someone like Newton would have a similar range of interests. The British imperial stuff was going to be my focus though, because of the fact that he was an original partner with Sir Walter Raleigh in his attempts to settle colonies in the New World. Plus (along with Merlin) he's essentially the archetype of the wizard in pop culture!
  - hackercomplex 11y ago
    oh yea I almost forgot about pop culture. There's the Bond connection to boot. Hell sometimes I theorize that maybe somehow almost the entire artifice of western pop culture was conjured up by Dee and associates in some kind of.. well I dare not speculate too far.