Intelligencers, Cliques, and Stars in the Spread of 17th -Century Cartesianism

Abstract

This paper examines the dissemination of Cartesianism in the 17th century by studying the networks of authors in the field of natural philosophy. Key figures who spread knowledge and innovated the field are identified and contextualized. Furthermore, the network analysis shows how different ways of thinking coexisted within the social networks of early modern natural philosophers. To achieve this methodologically, originally bipartite networks were projected into author-to-author networks that were divided into time slices. Measurements of centrality and assortativity were used to determine prominence and diversity, which were complemented and refined with close reading. The findings reveal not only cliques of geographically connected authors, but also an overall highly connected field. Additionally, assortativity indicates a moderate tendency toward homophily in the authors’ connections to others within the same philosophical tradition. The study furthermore identifies that central authors were predominantly eclectic or Cartesian, suggesting that Cartesianism was driven by such individuals in structurally well-connected positions.

Keywords

• historical social networks
• early modern science
• complex networks
• digital humanities
• projected networks
• multiplex evolving networks