Dimensions of Knowledge Oikonomies: Theory and Practice in Premodern Mining and Cosmology (B06)

• Subject Area: History of Science
• Term: from 2012 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 191249397

The project investigates the dynamics of cosmological and terrestrial knowledge in premodern times by examining reciprocal relationships between textual, practical and material formations of knowledge discourses concerning non-human nature. The project uses a broad concept of cosmology that includes astronomy, theories of the spheres, geography, mathematics and the conception of Earth. A special focus lies on the ‘momenta’ (such as libraries and networks of knowledge) that generated specific kinds of knowledge in the early modern knowledge oikonomies of cosmology and mining.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 980: Episteme in Motion - Transfer of Knowledge from the Ancient World to the Early Modern Period
• Applicant Institution: Freie Universität Berlin
• Co-Applicant Institution: Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte (MPIWG)
• Project Heads: Professorin Dr. Anne Eusterschulte, since 1/2024; Professor Jürgen Renn, Ph.D., until 12/2023