%0 Journal Article
%T Very much in the dark about light   : Franklin, lumi¨¨res et critiques
%A James Delbourgo
%J Transatlantica : Revue d'¨¦tudes Am¨¦ricaines
%D 2009
%I Association fran?aise d'¨¦tudes am¨¦ricaines
%X Cet essai consid¨¨re une critique des exp¨¦riences ¨¦lectriques de Benjamin Franklin, publi¨¦e anonymement ¨¤ Londres en 1777. L'auteur s'interroge pour savoir s'il est l¨¦gitime de regarder ces exp¨¦riences comme   natural philosophy   dans la tradition d¡¯Isaac Newton. Cette critique des lumi¨¨res frankliniennes est consid¨¦r¨¦e en connection avec les conflits de la R¨¦volution am¨¦ricaine, les angoisses sociales sur la dext¨¦rit¨¦ m¨¦canique, et la hi¨¦rarchie g¨¦ographique des savoirs. Les d¨¦bats sur le caract¨¨re de la vraie philosophie naturelle qui touchaient les exp¨¦riences de Franklin portaient ¨¦galement sur la constitution sociale, politique et g¨¦ographique de l¡¯autorit¨¦. This essay discusses a critical account of Benjamin Franklin¡¯s experiments with electricity published anonymously in London in 1777. The fundamental question raised was whether Franklin¡¯s famous experiments constituted legitimate natural philosophy in the tradition of Isaac Newton. This dim view of Franklinist enlightenment is linked to the conflicts of the American Revolution, social anxieties about mechanical ingenuity, and geographical hierarchies of knowledge-making. It is argued that debates over the legitimacy of the proper character of natural philosophy that addressed Franklinist science were also debates over the social, political and geographical constitution of authority.
%K Enlightenment
%K Franklin
%K electricity
%K experimentation
%K Newton
%K natural philosophy
%K observation
%K system
%K Atlantic
%K revolution
%K Lumi¨¨res
%K Franklin
%K ¨¦lectricit¨¦
%K exp¨¦rimentation
%K Newton
%K philosophie naturelle
%K observation
%K syst¨¨me
%K Atlantique
%K r¨¦volution
%U http://transatlantica.revues.org/4411