Iluminismo no mundo luso-brasileiro: um olhar sobre a Viagem Filosófica à Amazónia, 1783-1792

Abstract

The starting point of this article is Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira’s philosophical voyage to the Amazon during the last quarter of the eighteenth century. The article intends to analyze the transfer of knowledge in its different modalities and articulations in the construction of scientific knowledge about the colonial natural world. Firstly, it identifies some authors and scientific references that shaped the thinking and textual production of the naturalist Rodrigues Ferreira; then, it maps out some of his intellectual collaborators during this long expedition to the Portuguese-Brazilian Amazonia; finally, it explores a dimension still little known regarding the place of American knowledge, also called “vulgar”, in this complex process of decoding and translating concrete experience into formalized scientific knowledge.

Keywords

• philosophical voyage
• scientific knowledge
• scientific communication
• intellectual networks
• transfer of knowledge
• traditional knowledges