As Reformer
Beside his medical activities, Gerard van Swieten was also active as a reformer. Especially the censorship was organized in a different way under his direction. He drove out the Jesuits that were in charge of the censorship before and carried out a centralization of the censorship that was only partly successful. He also tried to use scientific and rational aspects for the judgement of literature.
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Famous quotes containing the word reformer:
“It may be worth the while to state that he is not a Reformer in our sense of the term.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A reformer knows neither how to do nor to undo.”
—José Bergamín (1895–1983)