Department of Philosophy, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Ambix. 2024 May;71(2):209-224. doi: 10.1080/00026980.2024.2324618. Epub 2024 Apr 5.
During the eighteenth century, authors of chemical treatises and courses on chemistry often introduced their work with a chapter devoted to the history of chemistry. While there may have been different reasons for the use of history, its importance was never seriously questioned. However, when Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794) took a professional interest in chemistry in the early 1770s, he progressively became uneasy with this literary tradition. In this essay, I intend to explore the ways in which Lavoisier looked at the history of chemistry and to show how, from the 1780s onwards, he began to adopt a hostile attitude towards historical erudition. This vision, which culminated in the publication of the (Paris, 1789), was not only the result of a stylistic preference but constituted a direct attack on a way of doing chemistry from which Lavoisier intended to distance himself.
在 18 世纪，化学专著和化学课程的作者们经常在他们的作品中引入一章，专门讨论化学史。虽然使用历史可能有不同的原因，但它的重要性从未受到过严重质疑。然而，当安托万-洛朗·拉瓦锡（Antoine Laurent Lavoisier，1743-1794 年）在 18 世纪 70 年代初对化学产生了专业兴趣时，他对这种文学传统逐渐感到不安。在本文中，我打算探讨拉瓦锡看待化学史的方式，并展示他是如何从 18 世纪 80 年代开始对历史博学采取敌对态度的。这种观点最终体现在《化学概要》（Traité élémentaire de chimie，巴黎，1789 年）的出版中，它不仅是一种文体偏好的结果，而且直接攻击了拉瓦锡意图与之保持距离的一种化学研究方法。
