Eighteenth-Century Science Communication? Exploring the Case of Julien Offray de La Mettrie

By Felix Eichbaum.

Portrait of Julien Offray de La Mettrie by Georg Friedrich Schmidt. 

Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709–1751), a French physician and philosopher, stands as one of the most provocative and systematically marginalized figures of the Enlightenment. 

Alternately discredited as the radical materialist Monsieur Machine and praised as a visionary medical reformer, La Mettrie’s career and reputation have been constantly shaped by the ideological lenses through which he has been read (Cryle, 2006; Jauch, 2012; Wellman, 1992). 

One aspect of his legacy, however, has received little to no attention yet: his role as popularizer and communicator of science. 

To explore this gap, three strands of La Mettrie’s activity are examined: his translation of scientific texts, his satirical engagement with societal and scientific discourse, and his contributions to public health advocacy. 

Building on the premise that historical strategies of science popularization can inform contemporary science communication, it is the aim of this study to relate La Mettrie’s approaches to modern concepts, thereby bridging historical analysis and current practice in the field.

Read the full essay: Eighteenth-Century Science Communication? Exploring the Case of Julien Offray de La Mettrie.

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Felix Eichbaum is a researcher at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). With a background in science communication and the history and philosophy of science, his current research explores the interactions between epistemic and communicative practices of transdisciplinary research.
LinkedIn: Felix Eichbaum.