Feeling Science: Humboldt, Darwin, Poe

Drawing on the history and philosophy of science while addressing a topic on the margins of affect studies, this essay discusses the feeling of science in mid-nineteenth-century literature, paying particular attention to Alexander von Humboldt, Charles Darwin, and Edgar Allan Poe. Whereas Humboldt, Darwin, and other nineteenth-century scientific thinkers struggle to confront unpleasant feelings of epistemological failure and uncertainty, Poe recognizes that the irritating affect of being wrong is vital to scientists and artists alike. Anticipating fallibilists such as Charles Peirce and current problems with scientific authority, Poe—almost like a sentimental author—can help us think right by feeling wrong.