Experience and Empiricism in the 16th Century: Reports and Things of the New World

Abstract

This article discusses the emergence of empirical practices in the context of the sixteenth-century Spanish American empire. My thesis is simple: the commercial and imperial expansion of Spain in America (as well as the expansion of other European kingdoms afterwards) fostered the creation and institutionalization of empirical practices for the study of the natural world. This was a significant event that has not yet been well understood in history of science. In the traditional historiography of the history of science the emphasis has been placed on the European social mechanisms that helped to establish empirical practices. It does not consider the American experience central in the understanding of the emergence and institutionalization of those practices; I argue that the American experience was central in the development of modern science. This article studies the creation of questionnaires and expeditions not only as part of state formation but also as part of the development of modern science.