Vermeir Koen
CNRS, Laboratoire SPHERE, UMR 7219, France.
Br J Hist Sci. 2012 Jun;45(165 Pt 2):165-88. doi: 10.1017/s0007087412000064.
Traditional historiography of science has constructed secrecy in opposition to openness. In the first part of the paper, I will challenge this opposition. Openness and secrecy are often interlocked, impossible to take apart, and they might even reinforce each other. They should be understood as positive (instead of privative) categories that do not necessarily stand in opposition to each other. In the second part of this paper, I call for a historicization of the concepts of 'openness' and 'secrecy'. Focusing on the early modern period, I briefly introduce three kinds of secrecy that are difficult to analyse with a simple oppositional understanding of openness and secrecy. In particular, I focus on secrecy in relation to esoteric traditions, theatricality and allegory.
传统的科学史编纂将保密构建为与开放相对立的概念。在本文的第一部分，我将对这种对立提出质疑。开放和保密常常相互交织，难以拆解，甚至可能相互强化。它们应被理解为不一定相互对立的积极（而非消极）范畴。在本文的第二部分，我呼吁对“开放”和“保密”的概念进行历史化考察。聚焦于近代早期，我简要介绍三种难以用简单的开放与保密对立观念来分析的保密类型。尤其值得关注的是与秘传传统、戏剧性和寓言相关的保密。
