Structures of Practical Knowledge

Matteo Valleriani's research focuses on the history of mechanics from classical antiquity to late Renaissance. In particular, his research intends to determine the role of the relations between practical knowledge and technology on the one side, and theoretical knowledge on the other side, within the framework of the processes of emergence of new theoretical knowledge. The research is structured on four different levels. The first level is the epistemological level that aims at formulating an epistemic theory of practical knowledge. The second level concerns mechanisms of diffusion of practical knowledge and the consequences this diffusion has in different cultures, as well as the transmission over epochs. The third level refers to the relationship between practical knowledge and natural philosophy. Finally, the fourth level analyzes the inherent points of contact between practical and theoretical knowledge and explores the mechanisms of the processes of emergence of newscientific knowledge.Matteo Valleriani's research moreover extends the implementation of the approach used to explore mechanisms of diffusion of knowledge also to studies dedicated to the role of Aristotelian knowledge in all cultures and epochs, in which this played a relevant role.

“The essays in the book cover a wonderfully diverse range of fields of knowledge, from theatre engineering, metalworking, woodblock printing, and astronomy to architecture, ballistics, artisanal knowledge, and brewing. … this volume contains some truly novel approaches to and insights into the structures of early modern practical knowledge.” (Marieke Hendriksen, Ambix, Vol. 66 (1), 2019)“This collection of dense articles by numerous authors … will appeal to a very select audience—historians of science and philosophers. The articles explore the relationship between practical and theoretical knowledge in different areas of science and technology. … Summing Up: Recommended. Researchers, faculty, and professionals.” (N. Sadanand, Choice, Vol. 55 (1), September, 2017)

• 1. The Epistemology of Practical Knowledge; Matteo Valleriani.-   2. Pocket-size architectural notebooks and the codification of practical knowledge; Elizabeth M. Merrill.-  3. Brewing Ale and Boiling Water in 1651; Elaine Leong.-  4. “Which Cannot Be Sufficiently Described by My Pen.” The Codification of Knowledge in Theater Engineering, 1480–1680; Viktoria Tkaczyk.-  5. Shooting with Ink; Jochen Büttner.-  6. Doing It Wrong: The Translation of Artisanal Knowledge and the Codification of Error; Sven Dupré.-  7. The Chiaroscuro Woodcut in the Early Modern Period; Eileen Reeves.-  8. Multi-tasking “pre-professional” architect/engineers and other bricolagic practitioners as key figures in the elision of boundaries between practice and learning in sixteenth-century Europe: Some Roman Examples; Pamela O. Long.-  9. Architectural Knowledge; Wolfgang Lefèvre.-  10. Knowledge by Design—Architecture and Jade Models During the Qianlong 乾隆 Reign (1735–1796); Dagmar Schäfer.-  11. Hybrid Experts; Ursula Klein.-  12. Utilitas astronomiae in the Renaissance: The Rhetoric and Epistemology of Astronomy; Pietro D. Omodeo.- 13. Incunable Almanacs and Practica as Practical Knowledge Produced in Trading Zones; Richard L. Kremer.- 14. The Codification of Vernacular Theories of Metallic Generation in sixteenth-century European Mining and Metalworking; Pamela H. Smith.- 15. Preserving the Cutting Edge: Traveling Woodblocks, Material Networks, and Visualizing Plants in Early Modern Europe; Bruce T. Moran.- 16. The Tracts on the Sphere: Knowledge Restructured over a Network; Matteo Valleriani.