The Scientific Counter-Revolution: The Jesuits and the Invention of Modern Science (Bloomsbury Studies in the Aristotelian Tradition)

"Jesuit engagement with natural philosophy during the late 16th and early 17th centuries transformed the status of the mathematical disciplines and propelled members of the Order into key areas of controversy in relation to Aristotelianism. Through close investigation of the activities of the Jesuit 'school' of mathematics founded by Christoph Clavius, The Scientific Counter-Revolution examines the Jesuit connections to the rise of experimental natural philosophy and the emergence of the early scientific societies. Arguing for a re-evaluation of the role of Jesuits in shaping early modern science, this book traces the evolution of the Collegio Romano as a hub of knowledge. Starting with an examination of Clavius's Counter-Reformation agenda for mathematics, Michael John Gorman traces the development of a collective Jesuit approach to experimentation and observation under Christopher Grienberger and analyses the Jesuit role in the Galileo Affair and the vacuum debate. Ending with a discussion of the transformation of the Collegio Romano under Athanasius Kircher into a place of curiosity and wonder and the centre of a global information gathering network, this book reveals how the Counter-Reformation goals of the Jesuits contributed to the shaping of modern experimental science"-- Provided by publisher Cover page Halftitle page Bloomsbury Studies in the Aristotelian Tradition Title page Copyright page Dedication Epigraph Contents Acknowledgements Resources for the Book Figures Abbreviations Introduction: What Scientific Counter-Revolution? Notes 1 Establishing Mathematical Authority: The Politics of Christoph Clavius Jesuit humanism and the Counter-reformation Mathematics and humanism Calendar reform and mathematical authority Clavius and the Bibliotheca Selecta Mobile mathematicians: Clavius’s disciples Conclusion – The circulation of Clavius’s image Notes 2 Mathematics and Modesty: The Problemata of Christoph Grienberger1 Modesty Deportment and scientific practice Who was Christoph Grienberger? Instruments and invisibility Private lessons Humdrum mathematical culture Public mathematics in the Collegio Romano: the Problemata Mixed mathematical themes in the Problemata Knowing the world through mathematics Performing Physico-Mathematics – The Floating Bodies Debate Conclusion: Anti-Galileo Notes 3 Discipline, Authority and Jesuit Censorship: From the Galileo Trial to the Ordinatio Pro Studiis Superioribus1 Christoph Scheiner, the Galileo Trial and the credibility of the Jesuit mathematical practitioner Economies of truth From the Monarchia solipsorum (1645) to the Ordinatio pro studijs superioribus (1651) Notes 4 The Jesuits and the Vacuum Debate1 The genesis of an experimental fact Readers of the Discorsi Jesuit reactions Defending Jesuit educational hegemony in the empire The Jesuits and the Carolinum: Roots of the conflict with Magni Domesticating the Torricellian experiment The antlia pneumatica Notes 5 The Angel and the Compass: Athansius Kircher’s Geographical Project1 Lost at sea – magnetic declination and navigation Kircher’s geographical plan Correspondence in Jesuit culture Kircher’s magnetic geography Angelic observation Riccioli’s exquisite instruments How should nature be investigated? Notes 6 Between the Demonic and the Miraculous: Athanasius Kircher and the Baroque Culture of Machines1 Introduction: serious jokes The machines Anatomies of machines and mechanical anatomies The catoptric cat Kircherian magic: The roots of a paradigm Visiting the machines Courting Queen Christina Miracle-machines Notes 7 From ‘The Eyes Of All’ to ‘Usefull Quarries in Philosophy and Good Literature’: The Changing Reputation of the Jesuit Mathematicus1 Notes Index Introduction -- 1. Establishing Mathematical Authority and the Politics of Christoph Clavius -- 2. Trusting the Jesuit Mathematicus -- 3. Grienberger, Mathematics and Modesty in the Collegio Romano -- 4. The Uses of Correspondence -- 5. Magnetic Declination and the Problem of Longitude -- 6. Discipline and Authority -- 7. Experiment, Expertise and Centralized Authority -- 8. Theatricality and the Failure of Replication -- Appendix: Documenting Public Mathematics in the Collegio Romano -- Bibliography -- Index