Curiosity, forbidden knowledge, and the reformation of natural philosophy in early modern England

From the patristic period to the beginning of the seventeenth century curio sity was regarded as an intellectual vice. Curious individuals were conside red to be proud and "puffed up," and the objects of their investigations we re deemed illicit, dispute engendering, unknowable, or useless. Seventeenth -century projects for the advancement of learning had to distance themselve s from curiosity and its dubious fruits or, alternatively, enhance the mora l status of the curious sensibility. Francis Bacon's proposals for the inst auration of knowledge were an integral part of a process by which curiosity underwent a remarkable transformation from vice to virtue over the course of the seventeenth century. The changing fortunes of this human propensity highlight the morally charged nature of early modem debates over the status of natural philosophy and the particular virtues required of its practitio ners. The rehabilitation of curiosity was a crucial element in the objectif ication of scientific knowledge and led to a gradual shift of focus away fr om the moral qualities of investigators and the propriety of particular obj ects of knowledge to specific procedures and methods.