``Probably this flood of work, beginning in the early 17th-c, contributed to the appearance of "taste" (or "gusto") in discussions of art...'' Carrol
``I've wanted to get this book for a long time. Maybe I'll buy it for myself for xmas. Interesting stuff on Kircher here ..''
Dennis Claxton
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Is this a fantastically weird conversation or what? Kircher? Never heard of him of course. So I went through the link and its quick sketch. Still not understanding why this guy should be celebrated...
The problem of assembling what is knowable was the basis of the whole Enlightenment, when hopefully the smart guys realized nobody could attain that goal. It was instead a collective project, manifest in the concept of a library and or museum that represented some part of human understanding and imagination.
Just skipping through Kircher, why would this guy be interesting to study? What jumped out at me, was the absurdity of attempting to explain a physical world or an ancient civilization from within a Christian theological world view. How can you explain magneticism or Old Kingdom Egypt, if you are in Rome in the 1620s, part of the church and living within the Vatican library and museum complexes?
CG