Portuguese and Brazilian Studies – PBS0910 S01

On the Dawn of Modernity (1419-1620)

Mondays. 3:00-5:20pm Onésimo T. Almeida Wilson Hall 109 Tels. Office 863-3042 Home 861-4691 Fax: 863-7261 E-mail: [email protected] Office Hours: Tuesdays 1:30 – 2:30 and by appointment

Bibliography

Required:

Lindberg, David C., The Beginnings of Western Science Cipolla, Carlo, Guns, Sails, and Empires: Technological Innovation and the Early Phases of European Expansion, 1400-1700 Fonseca, Luis Adão da, The Discoveries and the Formation of the (handout) Alfred Crosby, The Measure of Reality Francisco Sanches, That Nothing Is Known Francis Bacon, Novum Organum Course packet with various selections, some of the from the books listed below.

Recommended:

Antonio Pigafetta, The First Voyage Around the World Winius, George, ed., the Pathfinder – Journeys from the Medieval toward the Modern World, 1300-c.1600 Cohen, I. Bernard, ed. Puritanism and the Rise of Modern Science. The Merton Thesis Goldstein, Thomas, Dawn of Modern Science Cohen, H. Floris, The Scientific Revolution. A Historiographical Inquiry (some chapters) Litvinoff, Barnett, 1492: The Decline of Medievalism and the Rise of Modern Age Into the Rising Sun. The Search for the Sea Route to the East (video) R. Hooykaas, “Science in Manueline Style” José de Acosta, Natural and Moral History of the Indies W. G. L. Randles, Geography, Cartography and Nautical Science in the Renaissance

Objectives

To take a close look at the writings by the navigators and travelers of the15th and 16th centuries in order to understand how the 17th century scientific revolution took a few centuries to develop. The writings of the trials and errors of the navigators (most of them not very well known outside the Portuguese-speaking world) reveal how those travels contributed to the slow transformation of the medieval worldview into the modern. The chronological parameters of the course are 1419 (discovery of Madeira Islands) and 1620 (the date of publication of Francis Bacon’s Novum Organum). At the end of the course, Francis Bacon’s Novum Organum will appear as a synthesis of these transformations rather than as a revolutionary work. In order to provide the students with some background on the history of science, as well as on the main issues of the course, the first readings will be David Lindberg’s The Beginning of Western Science, as well as excerpts from Aristotle and St. Augustine. They will exemplify the key differences between the Classical and the Medieval worldviews. Among the Portuguese authors to be read are Duarte Pacheco Pereira (c.1455-1530? ), D. João de Castro (1500-1548?), Pedro Nunes (1502--1578), Garcia de Orta (1490-c.1570 ), Fernando Oliveira (c.1507-c.1585) and Francisco Sanches (1551-1623).

September 9 - Introduction

Concept clarifications: Cultural and Intellectual History, Mentalities, Ideology, Paradigm, Worldview, Biblical, Classical, and Medieval Worldviews, Modernity, Post- Modernity

September 16 - Brackground: The Classical Worldview

Readings: Lindberg,,The Beginnings of Western Science, 1-159 Aristotle, (excerpts from Metaphysics, (xerox)

September 23 - The Medieval Worldview

Readings: Lindberg, 161-280; 355-368 St. Augustine, (excerpts from Confessions, xerox)

September 30 - Quantification gaining ground

Alfred Crosby, The Measure of Reality

October 7 - The Dawn of Modernity:

The voyages of discovery: historical background

Diffie, B. and G.Winius, Foundations of the , pp. 46-194 Fonseca, Luis Adão da, The Discoveries and the Formation of the Atlantic Ocean

October 21 – “Experience, the mother of things”

Duarte Pacheco Pereira, Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis F. C. Domingues, “The idea of experience in the 16th century (on Fernando Oliveira)

October 28 – Experimental methodology

Pedro Nunes, (John R. C. Martin on Pedro Nunes) Garcia de Orta, Conversations on the simples, drugs and medicinal substances of Luís de Albuquerque, “The Art of Instrumental Navigation” ______, “Some notes on Science in the Age of Discoveries” Manuel S. Pinto, “Gaspar Frutuoso, a Portuguese Vulcanologist”

November 4 – Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Cabral & Magellan – scientific contributions

Letter of Pêro Vaz de Caminha on the Discovery of Antonio Pigafetta, The First Voyage Around the World Luis de Camões, The Lusiads, Canto V R. Hooykaas, Science in Manueline Style

November 11 – Technology and power

Cipolla, Guns, Sails, and Empires

November 18 - Astronomy, Cartography, Mythical islands

W. G. Randles, Geography, Cartography and Nautical Science in the Renaissance, Essays II-VII, IX, and XII

November 25 - The Impact on European ideas

Francisco Sanches, That Nothing Is Known Montaigne, Essays (excerpts)

December 2 – On the birth of modern science and the modern worldview

Francis Bacon, The New Organum I. B. Cohen, The Merton Thesis, 373-389 Floris Cohen, The Scientific revolution, 151-236; 308-377; 491-525

December 9 – Some theoretical conclusions

R. Hooykaas, “The Rise of Modern Science: when and how?” Floris Cohen, “How Modern Science came into the World”

Papers: Students will be asked to write two short papers (4-5) pages and final (10-12 pages). Each student will be expected to make at least one oral presentation in class, which can be combined with one of the papers.

Suggestions for topics of presentations in class

1. Chinese science - was it already science? 2. Islamic science - a transitional step? 3. The role of humanists in the recovery of Greek science 4. Experience in Galen's view of medicine 5. The pioneering role of the Padua School of Medicine 6. The importance of Arabic numeration in the development of Mathematics 7. Roger Bacon and experimental science 8. The Tordesillas treaty and the division of the world 9. The search of the land of Prestes John 10. The role of mythical conceptions of the world in the discovery of new world 11. Cartography - The science and art of mapmaking 12. Andreas Vesalius, empirical anatomist (1514-1564) 13. Leonardo da Vinci, the scientist 14. Shipbuilding 15. The myth of the flat earth

Students will visit the John Carter Brown Library to see some examples of 16th century books and maps.