Ebook: The New Science and Jesuit Science: Seventeenth Century Perspectives

"One cannot talk about mathematics in the 16th and 17th centuries without seeing a Jesuit at every corner," George Sarton observed in 1940. * Sarton, of course, was not the first to recognize the disproportionate representation of members of the Society of Jesus in the scientific enterprise of the early modern period. However, unlike many historians who belittled the discernible numerical strength of the Jesuits on the grounds that they lacked originality and were generally hostile to new ideas, Sarton correlated numerical strength with significance. Hence his plea for collecting the papers of that industrious historian of Jesuit science, Henri Bosmans, was quite refreshing. Yet Sarton's appeal went unheeded, and not only with respect to Bosmans' papers. The perception of the Jesuits as plodding pedagogues and obscurantists remained as ingrained as ever, virtually sanctioning the disregard of their activities. Such neglect meant that the exact nature of the Jesuit contribution to the Scientific Revolution remained sketchy at best; only recently - owing to a long-overdue examination of the Order's archives and of published texts - have new contours begun to emerge. Striking in this reassessment is a more nuanced appreciation of the Jesuits' interaction with "modernity" and a far greater recognition of the Jesuit contribution to the two poles of modern science: the mathematization of natural philosophy and experimental science.

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Until recently, the contribution of the Society of Jesus to the Scientific Revolution remained sketchy at best, as the perception of the Jesuits as plodding pedagogues and obscurantists sanctioned the disregard of their activities. The present volume makes an important contribution toward a more nuanced appreciation of the Jesuits' interaction with "modernity", and a far greater recognition of their contribution to the two poles of modern science: the mathematization of natural philosophy and experimental science. The six essays provide a cross-section of the complex Jesuit encounter with the mathematical sciences during the seventeenth century, as well as a factor in the quandary faced by practitioners in their pursuit of science and in their ability to make their research public.

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Until recently, the contribution of the Society of Jesus to the Scientific Revolution remained sketchy at best, as the perception of the Jesuits as plodding pedagogues and obscurantists sanctioned the disregard of their activities. The present volume makes an important contribution toward a more nuanced appreciation of the Jesuits' interaction with "modernity", and a far greater recognition of their contribution to the two poles of modern science: the mathematization of natural philosophy and experimental science. The six essays provide a cross-section of the complex Jesuit encounter with the mathematical sciences during the seventeenth century, as well as a factor in the quandary faced by practitioners in their pursuit of science and in their ability to make their research public.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-ix
Mathematics and Modesty in the Society of Jesus: The Problems of Christoph Grienberger....Pages 1-120
The Grounds for Conflict: Grienberger, Grassi, Galileo, and Posterity....Pages 121-157
Additio ILLA Non Videtur Edenda: Giuseppe Biancani, Reader of Galileo in an Unedited Censored Text....Pages 159-186
Two Jesuit Responses to Galileo’s Science of Motion: Honore Fabri and Pierre le Cazre....Pages 187-227
Jesuit Mathematical Practice in Portugal, 1540–1759....Pages 229-247
The Celestial Pilgrimages of Valentin Stansel (1621–1705), Jesuit Astronomer and Missionary in Brazil....Pages 249-270

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Until recently, the contribution of the Society of Jesus to the Scientific Revolution remained sketchy at best, as the perception of the Jesuits as plodding pedagogues and obscurantists sanctioned the disregard of their activities. The present volume makes an important contribution toward a more nuanced appreciation of the Jesuits' interaction with "modernity", and a far greater recognition of their contribution to the two poles of modern science: the mathematization of natural philosophy and experimental science. The six essays provide a cross-section of the complex Jesuit encounter with the mathematical sciences during the seventeenth century, as well as a factor in the quandary faced by practitioners in their pursuit of science and in their ability to make their research public.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-ix
Mathematics and Modesty in the Society of Jesus: The Problems of Christoph Grienberger....Pages 1-120
The Grounds for Conflict: Grienberger, Grassi, Galileo, and Posterity....Pages 121-157
Additio ILLA Non Videtur Edenda: Giuseppe Biancani, Reader of Galileo in an Unedited Censored Text....Pages 159-186
Two Jesuit Responses to Galileo’s Science of Motion: Honore Fabri and Pierre le Cazre....Pages 187-227
Jesuit Mathematical Practice in Portugal, 1540–1759....Pages 229-247
The Celestial Pilgrimages of Valentin Stansel (1621–1705), Jesuit Astronomer and Missionary in Brazil....Pages 249-270
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