Linnaeus and the Age of Reason

1 Mariano Akerman, The Eighteenth Century (after a reproduction of the Allegory of Nature found in a familiar encyclopedia), digital image, 2007

Linnaeus lived in the eighteenth century. He developed his work in a period of time that falls between Hogarth’s Inhabitants of the Moon, a 1700 print mocking the socio-political order of the day, and the launching of the first balloon by the Montgolfière brothers in 1783.

2 Eighteenth-century prints showing the Inhabitants of the Moon, a mature Carl Linnaeus, and the launching of La Montgolfière in Paris, six years before the French Revolution

Almost everything that distinguishes the modern Western world from earlier centuries—industrialized production, bureaucratized government, the new conceptions that science introduced into philosophy, the whole climate of thought and opinion—overlapped during the eighteenth century with the old political and social order, the ancien régime.

3 Fra Andrea Pozzo, Europe, fresco, Sant’ Ignazio di Loyola, Rome, early eighteenth century  

It was the last period in which it was widely believed that “kings are by God appointed,” the first in which it could be claimed as “self-evident” that (in the words of the American Declaration of Independence, 1776) “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

                          4 Nature, eighteenth-century allegorical image

The incompatibility of these claims with traditional systems of monarchic or oligarchic government was not shown up until the last decade of the century, when the French Revolution gave a new meaning to the ideas of “liberty, equality and fraternity.”

5 Mariano Akerman, Just a Moment before the French Revolution, pencil and ink, 1989. Present whereabouts unknown.

While the middle class encouraged new ideas and financed technological advances, the thinkers of the Enlightenment fostered the ideas of Reason and Freedom.

          6 Mariano Akerman, The Age of Reason, digital photo-collage, 2007

Because of the brilliance of its thinkers the whole century was actually an intellectual turning point, aptly known as the Age of Reason.  

Here are their ideas:

• “One can fool some men, or fool all men in some places and times, but one cannot fool all men in all places and ages” (Denis Diderot, Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers, 1754, vol. 4).
• “If we don’t find anything pleasant, at least we shall find something new” (Voltaire, Candide, 1759, ch. 17: « Si nous ne trouvons pas des choses agréables, nous trouverons du moins des choses nouvelles »).

• “Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains” (Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Du contract social, 1762, bk. 1, ch. 1: « L’homme est né libre, et partout il es dans les fers »). 

• “Everything is good as it leaves the hands of the Author of things; everything degenerates in the hands of man. He forces one soil to nourish the products of another, one tree to bear the fruit of another. He mixes and confuses the climates, the elements, the seasons. He mutilates his dog, his horse, his slave. He turns everything upside down: he disfigures everything; he loves deformity, monsters. He wants nothing as nature made it, not even man; for him, man must be trained like as school horse; man must be fashioned in keeping with his fancy like a tree in his garden” (Rousseau, Émile ou de l’éducation, 1762, bk. 1)

• “In this world we run the risk of having to choose between being the anvil or the hammer” (Voltaire, Dictionnaire Philosophique, 1764: “Tyranny”).

• “Common sense is not so common” (Voltaire, Dictionnaire Philosophique, 1765 : “Common Sense.”  His original words are: « Le sens commun est fort rare »).

             7 Mariano Akerman, Artifice vs. Nature, digital contrast, 2007

The Enlightenment radiated out of the philosophical and scientific thought of the seventeenth century, especially that of Descartes, of John Locke, who propounded a philosophy based on empirical observation and common sense, and of Isaac Newton, who provided a rational explanation of the laws determining and working of the universe.

8 Etienne-Louis Boullée, Design for Monument to Isaac Newton, ink and wash drawing, 1784 (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris). Désert de Retz, Chambourcy, wash design for a broken column residence, c. 1785 (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm)

Despite many and profound differences, the leaders of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment shared a faith in the power of the human mind to solve every problem. They believe in human perfectibility and in the possibility of human omniscience. And in this optimistic belief all physical phenomena were studied and categorized and all aspects of human behavior were scrutinized from a strictly rational viewpoint—political systems, social customs, religious practices. Everything that seemed to them worth knowing was ordered and encapsulated in the great French encyclopedia (1751-72).

                                 9 D’Alembert, L’Encyclopédie, Diderot

It aimed to survey knowledge according to rational philosophical principles. “Dare to know! Have the courage to use your understanding; this is the motto of the Enlightenment,” the German philosopher Immanuel Kant declared in 1784.

                   10 Linnea borealis, reindeers, Linnaeus as Laplander 

Science seemed to make the universe more, rather than less, mysterious.

  11 Plate showing Linnaeus’ Sexual System of Botanical Classification of 1735

Newton’s mechanistic conception of creation—an orderly system set in motion by “a divine clock-maker”—gave way to one that was organic. This was epitomized by Linnaeus’ classification of the natural species.

12 Linnaeus portrayed holding a Linnaea borealis and his monumental Systema Naturae, first published in 1735

Distinguishing from his predecessor’s myths and inaccuracies, Linnaeus’s new scientific attitude was based on observation and empiricism.

13 An illustration from Olaus Magnus’ Historia of 1555, showing a gigantic lobster attacking an unfortunate sailor.

As the most famous Swedish biologist of all times put it in his Philosophia botanica of 1751: “In the natural sciences, the principles of truth are to be confirmed by observation.”

14 Linnaeus’ descriptive notes and a page from his herbarium (with a plant named “Veronica”)

Eighteenth-century Europe was capitalist, mercantilist, and expansionist. Distinctive of the Age of Reason, le voyage autour du monde or trip around the globe was a reflection of a new interest in the world. Many were eager to participate in these explorations and Linnaeus encouraged quite a number of his students to travel around the world, searching new species to be recorded, named and classified.

15 Journeys of Linnaeus seventeen disciples across the world

Observation, journeys and publications led to a change in people’s awareness of the world they lived in.

16 Joseph Wright, Experiment with the Air-pump, oil, 1768 (Tate Gallery, London)

17 The launching of La Montgolfière, Paris, 1783 (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris)

18 Sir Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of Joseph Baretti, 1774; Jean-Honoré Fragonard, A Young Girl Reading, 1776 (Prado, Madrid)    

In changing people's awareness of the world they lived in, invaluable was Linnaeus’ contribution.

19 Linnaeus’ notebook and other belongings he used during his Lapland exploration

20 Linnaeus’ Musa paradisica and the title page of his Hortus Clifortianus of 1737

21 Some assorted books published by Linnaeus during the eighteenth century

Linnaeus was the Father of Modern Biology.

22 A Tribute to Carl Linnaeus

Carl Linnaeus’ science marked a fundamental victory of reason over caprice and preconception.

         23 Mariano Akerman, Caprice vs. Reason, digital contrast, 2007

       24 Mariano Akerman, Homage to the French Revolution, digital image, 2005

                          25 Mariano Akerman, Curly Sky, digital image, 2005

                  26 Mariano Akerman, Temple of Inclusion, digital image, 2005

         To Linnaeus!

      27 Mariano Akerman, In the Spirit of Linnaeus, digital composition, 2006

Carl Linnaeus. The Eighteenth Century. Age of Reason. Enlightenment. Europe. Sweden. Science and Art. Education. Idea, research and design: Mariano Akerman (Akermariano) © 2007 All Rights Reserved.

                    LE TOUR DU MONDE

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