M. Norton Wise
(History), UCLA

Under the Influence

March 8, 2004
4:00pm, 306 Royce Hall

This talk will be a polemic directed against what may be called “the historical dynamics of influence.” Intellectual historians, like art historians, are fond of “influence.” It is a wishy-washy term that stands in for causal action when the author does not know what sort of action has actually occurred. In fact, influence has maintained its roots in the astrological notion of an ethereal fluid streaming from the stars and “acting upon the character and destiny of men”, as the OED puts it. In more modern terms influence becomes “the capacity or faculty of producing effects by insensible or invisible means, without the employment of material force, or the exercise of formal authority”. So the word still connotes insensible emanations from outside sources. On that understanding, the influenza that troubles history can be diagnosed and perhaps treated.

M. Norton Wise is Professor of History at UCLA, specializing in modern European science. Favorite topics include the interdependence of political economy and natural philosophy during industrialization, steam-powered landscape gardens in Prussia, and the sciences of complexity. His edited volume on Growing Explanations: Historical Perspectives on the Sciences of Complexity is due out this year from Duke University Press and he is completing a book on Bourgeois Berlin and Laboratory Science.

This is the fourth seminar of our year-long series, the Ends of Theory. This series is a forum for discussion of the role and aims of theory in the humanities and social sciences today. For the purpose of the seminars, theory will be defined broadly as any sustained reflection on the basic methodological and substantive assumptions of a discipline or disciplines. The format may include formal papers, readings distributed in advance, or informal debate, as announced. Each seminar will be led by a UCLA faculty member whose current work addresses significant issues of a theoretical nature. The seminars are generally small, and lively interaction between seminar leaders and audience can be expected.

EVENT REGISTRATION

Reservations are not required; however, seating is limited. Parking is available on the UCLA Campus for $7.00. Please see an attendant at any parking information kiosk to be directed to the closest available lot to this venue.

For further information or questions, you may contact our office at (310) 825-9581, or email us modcon@humnet.ucla.edu.

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