Theodor Zwinger's Methodus Apodemica: An Observatory of the City as Political Space in the Late Sixteenth Century

With the Methodus Apodemica (1577) of the Basle philosopher and physician Theodor Zwinger travelling becomes an ars of great heuristic and formative value. Indeed Zwinger's book provides a modern method of analysis that predates the scientific Revolution of the Seventeenth Century. For the first time, the city is studied as political space. The city is the center of ethical, political, and civic values and the main arena of the human experience in history. The observation of the city by the travellers also assumed values of activity and a means of political investigation fondamental for the common good.