What is the philology of machines
The term has been around for a few decades “machines' philology” is used to indicate a method of investigating past technology that is based on two basic principles, both of which require a distinctly multidisciplinary approach to historical research.
The first consists in identifying the sources and their extremely in-depth study which, thanks to the contribution of very different skills, allows you to locate additional sources, compared to those commonly used, and to interpret them from complementary points of view, sometimes alternative, compared to traditional ones. As with any other historical research, the sources are irreplaceable tools of machine philology. In this specific case, the first place in importance is undoubtedly occupied by the technological texts and drawings that have come down to us. The study of ancient manuscripts is commonly the prerogative of art historians or writers; very rarely ai “technicians” the possibility of accessing this kind of sources is offered. But the peculiar characteristics of ancient texts of a technical nature make them indispensable, for a complete and in-depth understanding of them, contributions and contributions from a very broad spectrum of disciplines.
Equally important would of course be material sources, that is, physical objects that have survived to this day; however their number is very small compared to that of the texts and drawings contained in the manuscripts of the artist-engineers of the past.
Laboratory activities
The second founding principle of machine philology is the rigorous practical experimentation of methods, of techniques, of processes and materials, in an attempt to reconstruct them as closely as possible to what emerges from the sources examined. Experimentally validating proposed interpretations of sources through this process requires a variety of technical skills, scientific and historical very different from each other.