Open AccessScientific surgeon of the Enlightenment or ‘plagiarist in everything’: a reappraisal of Benjamin Bell (1749–1806)
Author(s) -
I. M. C. Macintyre
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of the royal college of physicians of edinburgh/the journal of the royal college of physicians of edinburgh
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.275
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 2042-8189
pISSN - 1478-2715
DOI - 10.4997/jrcpe.2011.211
Subject(s) - magnum opus , originality , biography , enlightenment , george (robot) , classics , medicine , art history , history , sociology , literature , philosophy , social science , art , epistemology , qualitative research
The Edinburgh surgeon Benjamin Bell has been regarded as a scientific thinker in the Enlightenment tradition, despite being accused during his lifetime of both plagiarism and a failure to be innovative. Yet subsequent historical accounts regard him much more favourably. A review of his life and work discusses possible explanations for this apparent lack of concordance.