Reading Galileo’s Discorsi in the Early Modern University

This article examines the scholarly practices with which readers at three universities read select passages from Galileo’s 1638 Discorsi, a work depicted by Galileo as one that eschewed the goals and methods of Aristotelian natural philosophy in favor of the quantitative and experimental ones charac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Renaissance quarterly 2015-06, Vol.68 (2), p.558-596
Main Author: Raphael, Renée J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air
Aristotelianism
Aristotle
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
Attitudes
College instruction
Commonplace books
Galilei, Galileo
Leathers
Literary criticism
Literature
Natural philosophy
Philosophers
Philosophy
Philosophy of science
Reading
Rhetoric
Society of Jesus
Studies
Universities
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Summary:This article examines the scholarly practices with which readers at three universities read select passages from Galileo’s 1638 Discorsi, a work depicted by Galileo as one that eschewed the goals and methods of Aristotelian natural philosophy in favor of the quantitative and experimental ones characteristic of modern science. The article reveals that a group of readers — diverse in terms of institutional affiliation, disciplinary identity, geography, and attitude toward Galileo — approached Galileo’s text using the tools of what Ann Blair has termed “bookish” natural philosophy. It argues that, contrary to Galileo’s rhetoric, these readers saw old and new methods as interchangeable.
ISSN:0034-4338
1935-0236
DOI:10.1086/682437