DOCSLIB.ORG

Practical Optics and Polemical Purposes in Seventeenth-Century England

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Practical Optics and Polemical Purposes in Seventeenth-Century England Practical Optics and Polemical Purposes in Seventeenth-Century England James Everest UCL I, James Everest, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 1 In memoriam Lisa Jardine 2 Contents Prefatory material 4 Introduction 7 Francis Bacon Dissolves Iron in Acid in the Dark 31 Thomas Hobbes Fires a Gun into a Lake 72 Robert Hooke Goes Back to Basics (and Draws the Same Conclusion) 115 Isaac Newton Waits for Robert Hooke to Die 163 Conclusion 208 Bibliography 213 3 Abstract What follows is a study of the prevalence and value of practical work in seventeenth-century English optics. I argue, firstly, that practical work – involving instruments and experiments – was a major aspect of the discipline at this time and, secondly, that a major purpose of this work was what I call ‘polemical’ in character. The first claim is directed at histories of seventeenth-century optics, which have tended to focus on the development of theories about light and vision, at the expense of the practical work that was such a prominent feature of the field. The second claim is directed at works on the ‘rhetoric of science’, which have tended to focus on a scientist’s deployment of various means, such as practical work, in a bid to persuade an audience that he or she is right about an aspect of the natural world, whereas my take on seventeenth-century natural philosophy is that practical work could serve another important function: it could act to persuade an audience that the ideas of a rival were wrong. The four chapters take the form of case-studies, examining in detail the practical work of Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton, each man the leading English optical philosopher of his generation. Each chapter supports the first claim of the thesis, by emphasising its subject’s practical work in optics; each supports the second, by highlighting the polemical purposes to which that practical work was turned. In addition, each chapter identifies the audiences before whom practical work was deployed, with the result that the four chapters can be read as a narrative, one that charts the expanding audiences for practical work in the seventeenth century. A prominent take on the increasingly public character of natural philosophy in this period stresses the quest for assent and the desire to manage dissent. The story told here, by contrast, emphasises the ongoing presence of a disorderly spirit of dispute. 4 Acknowledgements My thanks are due, firstly, to my supervisors, Lisa Jardine and Angus Gowland. I began the thesis at Queen Mary, University of London, and ended it at UCL, and have benefited from the intellectual atmosphere at both institutions. Meanwhile, staff at the Royal Society library provided a hospitable working environment for much of the research. Parts of what follows were read in draft form by Felicity Henderson, James Lancaster, Noah Moxham, Richard Serjeantson, Erin Webster and Clare Whitehead; I am grateful for their advice and encouragement. Waseem Yaqoob and Susan Everest went through the whole thing and provided valuable suggestions. Final and special thanks belong with my family: it is no hyperbole to say that without them the thesis would not have been completed. 5 Notes on Dates In seventeenth-century England, the new year officially began on 25 March, so anything dated, for example, ‘2 January 1663’ belongs to what we would call 1664. In addition, the calendar was 10 days behind the one used today, so ‘2 January’ in fact corresponds to what we would think of as 12 January. In what follows, I have silently updated the year where appropriate, but have maintained the original date of the month. Items that crossed national borders, such as letters, pose a particular problem, as Catholic Europe had already adopted the calendar that is now employed worldwide. I have followed the contemporary practice of providing both old- and new-style dating, e.g. ‘2/12 January’. Notes on Transcriptions When quoting from manuscript sources, I have preserved as many features of early modern scribal activity as possible, including contractions, superscript and ligatures. For the sake of clarity, however, I have dropped words or passages that are struck through in the original (except where they prove revelatory); similarly, I have not identified text that is a marginal or intralinear insertion as such. In both cases, my intervention is mentioned in the notes. 6 Introduction 1. Practical Optics In 1772, the dissenting clergyman and practising natural philosopher Joseph Priestley published a book on optics, The History and Present State of Discoveries Relating to Vision, Light, and Colours, a sequel to the hugely successful History and Present State of Electricity, his first foray into the field now thought of as the ‘history of science’. In the opening lines of the earlier work, he outlines his intentions: “I flatter myself that I shall give pleasure [...] and I hope the work will be of some advantage to the science [of electricity] itself”1. What kind of pleasure does he have in mind? It is, he claims, not unlike “that of the sublime [...] For an object in which we see a perpetual progress and improvement is, as it were, continually rising in its magnitude; and moreover, when we see an actual increase, in a long period of time past, we cannot help forming an idea of an unlimited increase in futurity; which is a prospect really boundless, and sublime”2. What kind of advantage, meanwhile, does he think will accrue from such a sublime prospect? “Great conquerors”, he writes, “have been both animated and also, in a great measure, formed by reading the exploits of former conquerors. Why may not the same effect be expected from the history of philosophy to philosophers?”3 When it comes to the history of natural philosophy, he concludes, “an intimate knowledge of what has been done before us cannot but greatly facilitate our future progress, if it be not absolutely necessary to it”4. 1 Priestley, History of Electricity, i. 2 Ibid., ii. 3 Ibid., v. 4 Ibid., vi. 7 Priestley is, of course, conscious that a history of all the various branches of natural philosophy would be an immense project, “perhaps more than any one man ought to undertake”. Here, accordingly, he limits himself to “that branch which has been my own favourite amusement”, the study of electricity, with the hope that his book will encourage “other persons to do the like for theirs”5. His choice of subject-matter is, however, unquestionably exciting: “Few branches of Natural Philosophy [...] can boast such a number of discoveries, disposed in so fine a series, all comprised in so short a space of time, and all so recent, the principal actors in the scene still living”6. The literate public seems to have agreed: the book was a commercial and critical triumph. Five years later, Priestley was back with his sequel, The History and Present State of Discoveries Relating to Vision, Light, and Colours. As we have seen, he had previously considered the study of all the branches of natural philosophy to be beyond the scope of any one man’s labour, but success in his first venture seems to have prompted a change of heart: “like the fox with respect to the lion, a nearer view has familiarized it to me, and I now look upon it not only without dread, but with a great deal of pleasure; considering it not only as a very practicable business, but even as an agreeable amusement”7. The new book is devoted to optics, a field of activity that, Priestley suggests, offers “a number of the finest gradations in the discoveries of different persons, a view of the greatest and happiest exertions of human genius, and the labours of those who are the most celebrated for their philosophical pursuits”8. Unfortunately, his readers were less enthused a second time around: although 5 Ibid., vii. 6 Ibid., viii (mispaginated vii). 7 Priestley, History of Light, Vision and Colours, iii. 8 Ibid., x. 8 favourably reviewed, the work was a commercial flop and his project for histories of the remaining branches of natural philosophy died with it9. A disaster for Priestley, The History and Present State of Discoveries Relating to Vision, Light, and Colours is a valuable source for historians seeking an insight into the priorities of early modern natural philosophers undertaking work in optics10. Perhaps as a consequence of Priestley’s conception of history as an aid to future progress, the book is overwhelmingly concerned with the recent past. It is divided into six ‘periods’: the first a brief account of developments up to ‘the revival of letters in Europe’; the second a description of work dating to the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; the third a survey of the discoveries of René Descartes and his contemporaries; the fourth an overview of later seventeenth-century activity; the fifth a study of the work of Isaac Newton; and the sixth an account of developments since. He concludes by sketching some directions that future research could take. The obvious (because most recent) point of comparison is A. Mark Smith’s From Sight to Light, a history of optics from antiquity to the seventeenth century, published in 2014. Unlike Priestley, Smith devotes equal weight to each of the periods in his narrative, constructing a tale that moves from Greek and Roman science, to developments in the Arabic world, to the medieval Latin West and the Renaissance. Like Priestley, however, Smith writes with one eye turned to the present, not with the goal of furthering the progress of optics, but with that of explaining the modern manifestation of the discipline.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Christopher Marlowe and the Golden Age of England
    The Marlowe Society Christopher Marlowe and the Research Journal - Volume 05 - 2008 Golden Age of England Online Research Journal Article Michael J. Kelly Christopher Marlowe and the Golden Age of England Poet, spy and playwright, Christopher Marlowe was the embodiment of the Elizabethan Golden Age. Marlowe’s work was the product of his ‘Erasmian,’ or Christian humanist, education, the state of affairs in England and his own ability and readiness to satirize the world around him. Marlowe and his fellow contemporaries were a testament to the development of English drama, its pinnacle at the end of the English Renaissance and its eventual decline and suppression at the outbreak of the English Civil War. Their work is historically important because it illustrates, in addition to the development of English theatre, the dramatic political and social events of the time through the public medium of the playhouse. Specifically, the development of the theatre helps explain key features of the English Renaissance such as the creation of English self-identity, adoption of humanistic ideal, the advancement of English over Latin, the role of religion, the intellectual development of a people and parliament and their gradual alienation from the monarchy, the ultimate assertion of parliamentary power, and Civil War. Furthermore, the development of commercial playwriting, acting, stage management and private investment in theatres, an aspect of life today taken for granted, began during this Golden Age in English drama. The history of English playwriting and performance stretches back to at least the ninth century trope ‘Alle Luia’ sung at Easter masses. However, post-classical Christian ritual performance itself probably developed from the ritualistic repetitions of the Empirical Roman Senate.1 This tradition, established in the Church at some point during the early formation of Roman successor states, likely spread to England from Spain, via Ireland, through missionaries.
    [Show full text]
  • Maths Trails
    Numeracy works for life ALM 6 Conference & LLU+ 7 National Numeracy Conference July 6th – July 9th, 2009 Maths Trails Purpose The purpose of a maths trail is to give an example of an experiential learning activity on mathematics in society (which could also be used / adapted for your own classes). Learning outcomes At the end of the trail you should have • experienced a maths trail • identified some aspects of numeracy in the real world • written some questions about the landmarks visited to ask another group • increased knowledge of some aspects of mathematics in history and culture Tasks a) Visit the suggested places on one of the identified trails in groups of 2/3. [Spend a maximum of 90 minutes on this activity – you do not have to visit all of them] b) Find as many places identified in the historical texts as you can. c) Identify aspects of numeracy from the Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum (use the overview overleaf). Make sure you have at least one example from each of N, MSS and HD. d) Write 5 numeracy related questions about the landmarks visited for others in the group. • four questions should be multiple choice question (each with 4 options) • one question should be open ended e) Be ready to feedback on how you felt about the activity and how useful a similar one might be for your learners. meaning-based learning in numeracy, interactive resources in numeracy, materials making, active learning 1 Numeracy works for life ALM 6 Conference & LLU+ 7 National Numeracy Conference July 6th – July 9th, 2009 The Recorde Trail Places on
    [Show full text]
  • Cavendish? S Construction of an Empoweidng Vitalistic Atomism
    LEARNJrNG THEIR LANGUAGE: CAVENDISH? S CONSTRUCTION OF AN EMPOWEIDNG VITALISTIC ATOMISM SARAH E. MOREMAN IN 1664 UNDER THE PERSONA of a female natural philosopher and epistoler, Margaret Cavendish urges her reader that one might not spend her time more "honourably, profitably, and delightfully, then in the study of Nature" (Philosophical Letters 414). Because Cavendish's childhood education inadequately prepared her for a career in natural philosophy, she embarked on a program of self-education. This study must have been most pleasing to a woman who at an early age identified her vocation as one of reading and writing ( True Relation 205-06). Like Cavendish's kidnapped heroine of The Blazing World who "took courage and endeavoured to learn their language" (130), Cavendish established for herself the authorization to speak publicly by learning the male-dominated language of seventeenth-century science. Cavendish's scientific writing embodied one of the numerous strategies she used to gain a voice, one that might speak in public not only to formally educated men but to all of her female readers, as well. To resuscitate Cavendish's philosophical works and demonstrate the empowering nature of self-education and philosophical study for a seventeenth­ century British woman, I examine in this essay Cavendish's brand of atomism, focusing on where she takes issue with contemporary natural philosophers on debates about matter and motion, perception, and knowledge acquisition. Cavendish's natural philosophy contributes to seventeenth-century natural philosophy, and for this reason alone, it is valuable, but more important is its empowering nature for a seventeenth-century English woman denied active participation in the schools and laboratories of the day.
    [Show full text]
  • A History of Elementary Mathematics, with Hints on Methods of Teaching
    ;-NRLF I 1 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PEFARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA Engineering Library A HISTORY OF ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO A HISTORY OF ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS WITH HINTS ON METHODS OF TEACHING BY FLORIAN CAJORI, PH.D. PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS IN COLORADO COLLEGE REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON : MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1917 All rights reserved Engineering Library COPYRIGHT, 1896 AND 1917, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped September, 1896. Reprinted August, 1897; March, 1905; October, 1907; August, 1910; February, 1914. Revised and enlarged edition, February, 1917. o ^ PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION "THE education of the child must accord both in mode and arrangement with the education of mankind as consid- ered in other the of historically ; or, words, genesis knowledge in the individual must follow the same course as the genesis of knowledge in the race. To M. Comte we believe society owes the enunciation of this doctrine a doctrine which we may accept without committing ourselves to his theory of 1 the genesis of knowledge, either in its causes or its order." If this principle, held also by Pestalozzi and Froebel, be correct, then it would seem as if the knowledge of the history of a science must be an effectual aid in teaching that science. Be this doctrine true or false, certainly the experience of many instructors establishes the importance 2 of mathematical history in teaching. With the hope of being of some assistance to my fellow-teachers, I have pre- pared this book and have interlined my narrative with occasional remarks and suggestions on methods of teaching.
    [Show full text]
  • The Shaping of European Modernities
    The Shaping of European Modernities: Neapolitan Hegelianism and the Renaissance (1848-1862) How deeply rooted in man is the desire to generalize about individuals or national characteristic [Friedrich Schlegel, Critical Fragments] The idea of Europe is a product of modernity. As such, it needs to be understood in relation to discourses about and interpretations of modernity. As Gerard Delanty has commented: ‘The history of modern Europe can be written in terms of a conflict between the ideas of modernity.’1 The main theoretical approach for the analysis of the idea of Europe ought, therefore, to be the general context of modernity. However, from the beginning of the nineteenth century it has made more sense to discuss Europe in terms of multiple models of modernity, to better capture the different interpretations of the European heritage. Delanty has highlighted that the Renaissance was the transitional point to an emerging modernity which has shaped Europe’s cultural identity. This is partially because one of the distinguishing features of modern Europe ‘was the cultivation of a concept of the self that made possible […] a new emphasis on the human being as an individual and an objective of study and reflection’.2 Under the general name of Renaissance, Delanty subsumes different and diverse cultural experiences such as humanism, republicanism, the Protestant Reformation and the encounter with the * This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation under Grant Early Post Doc Mobility. 1 Gerard Delanty, Formations of European Modernity: A Historical and Political Sociology of Europe (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2013), p. 164. 2 Ibid., p.
    [Show full text]
  • BODIES and THEIR INTERNAL POWERS Natural Philosophy, Medicine, and Alchemy Hiro Hirai
    17 BODIES AND THEIR INTERNAL POWERS Natural Philosophy, Medicine, and Alchemy Hiro Hirai Natural Philosophy, Medicine, and Alchemy Sixteenth-century natural philosophers and physicians crafted novel ideas on bodies and their internal powers. These ideas often went far beyond the framework of the traditional perspectives, influencing the broader philosophical scene of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Although the principal actors in sixteenth-century natural philosophy had a variety of motivations and points of departure, many of them were medically educated humanists or humanistically trained physicians. This was the case, for example, for Jean Fernel, Girolamo Cardano, and Julius Caesar Scaliger. Under the influence of these figures, writers such as Bernardino Telesio and Justus Lipsius, though not educated as physicians, took pains to engage in questions related to the medical realm. Their writings exerted a considerable impact on later generations. These physician–philosophers frequently addressed life phenomena. Their reflections on philosophical issues with biomedical connections are particularly worth investigating because of their professional, and therefore scholarly, concerns. Their intellectual out - comes contributed, albeit in different ways, to the reorientation of philosophy toward questions about nature, which were to become crucial for key figures of seventeenth-century ‘new philosophy.’ The decisive turn of interest toward the natural realm occurred during the sixteenth century, and this reorientation will remain historically inexplicable unless Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 01:21 26 January 2017 the contributions of physician–philosophers are adequately grasped (Hirai 2011). Medicine Although Galenism dominated Western medicine during the Middle Ages, knowledge of the writings of Galen (129–c.
    [Show full text]
  • Shakespeare's Medical Knowledge: How Did He Acquire
    Shakespeare’s Medical Knowledge: How Did He Acquire It? Frank M. Davis, M.D. ❦ OLUMES have been written on the subject of Shakespeare’s knowledge of legal language and issues, most of it by lawyers, all but a handful arguing strenuously that he had, as Lord Penzance stated, “a knowledge [of the law] so perfect and intimate that he was never incorrect and never at fault.” (Greenwood 375). A number of scholars have felt the same way about his knowledge of medicine. As E.K. Chambers said, “on similar grounds [referring to the law] Shakespeare has been repre- sented as an apothecary and a student of medicine” (1.23). Yet there have been only three comprehensive books written on the subject of Shakespeare’s knowledge of medicine: J.C. Bucknill (1860); R.R. Simpson (1959); and Aubrey C. Kail (1986); along with a handful of less important works (see Selected Bibliography, page 58) . Let’s examine what Shakespeare might have known about medicine in his day. First, it is important to note that there would be no comprehensive books on the history of medicine of the period until 1699, when Drs. Baden and Drake translated into English the L’Histoire du Physique of Le Clerc, and even this dealt primarily with the medicine of the Greeks and Arabs (Bucknill 10). Although there were at the time a number of essays or short works on narrow medical issues, true medical literature, like medicine itself, was still in its infancy, so that it would not have been possible for Shakespeare to have absorbed much from reading what was available to him in English.
    [Show full text]
  • A Companion to the Cavendishes
    A COMPANION TO THE CAVENDISHES Companions Arc Humanities’ Reference Works bring together the best of international research in authoritative edited collections that have enduring beneit to scholars and students alike. Topics are carefully selected to stand the test of time and, in the best cases, these works are consulted for decades. The program includes historical, textual, and material source books, readers for students that collate and curate required essays for courses, and our Companions program. Arc’s Companions program includes curated volumes that have a global perspective and that earn their shelf space by their authoritative and comprehensive content, up-to- date information, accessibility, and relevance. As well as providing an overview of the topics, contributing authors are encouraged to challenge the status quo and recognize con- tentious issues and cutting- edge concerns. The Companions acknowledge diversity and inclusivity and open students up to the idea that research is evolving, debatable, and contested and not always deinitive. FOR PRIVATE AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY A COMPANION TO THE CAVENDISHES Edited by LISA HOPKINS and TOM RUTTER For Chris and Sam, and for Sophie, Caedmon, and Aphra British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. © 2020, Arc Humanities Press, Leeds The authors assert their moral right to be identiied as the authors of this work. Permission to use brief excerpts from this work in scholarly and educational works is hereby granted pro- vided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is an exception or limitation covered by Article 5 of the European Union’s Copyright Directive (2001/29/ EC) or would be determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the US Copyright Act September 2010 Page 2 or that satisies the conditions speciied in Section 108 of the US Copyright Act (17 USC §108, as revised by PL 94– 553) does not require the Publisher’s permission.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cavendishes and Ben Jonson
    This is a repository copy of The Cavendishes and Ben Jonson. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/170346/ Version: Published Version Book Section: Rutter, T. orcid.org/0000-0002-3304-0194 (2020) The Cavendishes and Ben Jonson. In: Hopkins, L. and Rutter, T., (eds.) A Companion to the Cavendishes. Arc Humanities Press , Leeds , pp. 107-125. ISBN 9781641891776 Reuse This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) licence. This licence only allows you to download this work and share it with others as long as you credit the authors, but you can’t change the article in any way or use it commercially. More information and the full terms of the licence here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ A COMPANION TO THE CAVENDISHES Companions Arc Humanities’ Reference Works bring together the best of international research in alike. Topics are carefully selected to stand the test of time and, in the best cases, these worksauthoritative are consulted edited for collections decades. that The program have enduring includes benefit historical, to scholars textual, and and students material source books, readers for students that collate and curate required essays for courses, and our Companions program. Arc’s Companions program includes curated volumes that have a global perspective and that earn their shelf space by their authoritative and comprehensive content, up- to- date information, accessibility, and relevance.
    [Show full text]
  • Bernardino Telesio and the Natural Sciences in the Renaissance
    Bernardino Telesio and the Natural Sciences in the Renaissance By Pietro Daniel Omodeo [colophon] Cover illustration: Bernardino Telesio, De iride (Venice 1590). Biblioteca Nazionale di Cosenza, Fondo Greco 476. This volume is an outcome of a project that has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (GA n. 725883 EarlyModernCosmology) Table of Contents Preface (Nuccio Ordine and Jürgen Renn) Introduction (Pietro Daniel Omodeo) 1. The First of the Moderns: Telesio between Bacon and Galileo (Roberto Bondì) 2. “Spiritus” and “anima a Deo immissa” in Telesio (Miguel Ángel Granada) 3. Telesio, Aristotle and Hippocrates on Cosmic Heat (Hiro Hirai) 4. Heat and Moving Spirits in Telesio’s and Della Porta’s Meteorological Treatises (Arianna Borrelli) 5. Telesian Controversies on the Winds and Meteorology (Oreste Trabucco) 6. Telesio and the Renaissance Debates on Sea Tides (Pietro Daniel Omodeo) 7. In Search of the True Nature of the Rainbow: Renewal of the Aristotelian Tradition and the De Iride (Elio Nenci) 8. A Conversation by Telesio: Sensualism, Criticism of Aristotle, and the Theory of Light in the Late Renaissance (Martin Mulsow) 9. ‘Haereticorum more leges refellendi suas proponit’. At the Beginning of Telesian Censorship: An Annotated Copy of the 1565 Roman Edition (Alessandro Ottaviani) 10. Reformation, Naturalism, and Telesianism: The Case of Agostino Doni (Riccarda Suitner) 11. The Accademia Telesiana between Myth and Reality (Giulia Giannini) 12. The Transformation of Final Causation: Autotelism in Telesio’s Idea of Self-Preservation (Rodolfo Garau) Preface Nuccio Ordine and Jürgen Renn This volume on Bernardino Telesio is a major contribution to the study of the Cosentine philosopher in the context of Renaissance science.
    [Show full text]
  • Bernardino Telesio and the Natural Sciences in the Renaissance
    Bernardino Telesio and the Natural Sciences in the Renaissance By Pietro Daniel Omodeo [colophon] Cover illustration: Bernardino Telesio, De iride (Venice 1590). Biblioteca Nazionale di Cosenza, Fondo Greco 476. This volume is an outcome of a project that has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (GA n. 725883 EarlyModernCosmology) Table of Contents Preface (Nuccio Ordine and Jürgen Renn) Introduction (Pietro Daniel Omodeo) 1. The First of the Moderns: Telesio between Bacon and Galileo (Roberto Bondì) 2. “Spiritus” and “anima a Deo immissa” in Telesio (Miguel Ángel Granada) 3. Telesio, Aristotle and Hippocrates on Cosmic Heat (Hiro Hirai) 4. Heat and Moving Spirits in Telesio’s and Della Porta’s Meteorological Treatises (Arianna Borrelli) 5. Telesian Controversies on the Winds and Meteorology (Oreste Trabucco) 6. Telesio and the Renaissance Debates on Sea Tides (Pietro Daniel Omodeo) 7. In Search of the True Nature of the Rainbow: Renewal of the Aristotelian Tradition and the De Iride (Elio Nenci) 8. A Conversation by Telesio: Sensualism, Criticism of Aristotle, and the Theory of Light in the Late Renaissance (Martin Mulsow) 9. ‘Haereticorum more leges refellendi suas proponit’. At the Beginning of Telesian Censorship: An Annotated Copy of the 1565 Roman Edition (Alessandro Ottaviani) 10. Reformation, Naturalism, and Telesianism: The Case of Agostino Doni (Riccarda Suitner) 11. The Accademia Telesiana between Myth and Reality (Giulia Giannini) 12. The Transformation of Final Causation: Autotelism in Telesio’s Idea of Self-Preservation (Rodolfo Garau) 0. Introduction Pietro Daniel Omodeo Bernardino Telesio of Cosenza is one of the Renaissance thinkers who most strenuously defended the ideal of inductive science.
    [Show full text]
  • Bernardino Telesio on Nature and Sentience Guido Giglioni
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by SAS-SPACE the first of the moderns or the last of the ancients ? bernardino telesio on nature and sentience Guido Giglioni nihil apud nos impatibile est Bernardino Telesio, De rerum natura Summary Bernardino Telesio’s philosophy of nature marked a momentous change in the philosophical panorama of late Renaissance. By redefining the notion of sentience (sensus) as the ability, inherent in the two principle forces of the universe (heat and cold), to react and adapt to a reality in constant change, Telesio championed a view of nature and man that radically departed from the principles of Aristotle’s natural philosophy. In developing his new notion of sentience, Telesio insisted on the aspects of receptivity and awareness. Through the first, he stressed the primary role of pneu- matic matter (spiritus), understood as a thin, supple and swift vehicle capable of ac- counting for all material changes in the universe ; through the second, he raised the property of self-perception to the level of a universal natural property. This allowed him to replace the key Aristotelian concept of unintentional teleology with the idea of a self-organising power inherent in nature and to endow the material spirit with the ability to feel and react to all phenomena occurring in the universe (spiritus om- niscius omnino). By relying on subtly discerning tendencies of pursuit and avoidance, Telesio’s spirit was thus capable of preserving life at all levels, both higher and lower, physical and ethical. rancis Bacon’s representation of Bernardino Telesio as the first of Fthe moderns is well known.
    [Show full text]