Preamble

The first chapter is an introduction to the book as a whole. It outlines the object of the study, which is to analyse the items in the Philosophical Transactions which were translated from the Journal des Sçavans in the period 1665–1700. The position of Latin is considered, as is translation from vernacular languages, particularly French. The importance on context is pointed out, particularly since the theoretical background of the study is Systemic Functional Linguistics, where context has an important place. One aspect of that context is the difference in philosophical stance of English and French intellectuals, the former being attached to the empirical stance of the Baconian tradition, while the latter continued to work within a Cartesian framework.