Post-Copernican Science in Galileo’s Italy

摘要

In 2015, two new studies on the scientific and astronomical culture of seventeenthcenturyrnItaly appeared: one on the natural philosophy of Galileo Galilei’s follower,rnthe ecclesiastic and philosopher, Giovanni Ciampoli—Federica Favino’srnLa filosofia naturale di Giovanni Ciampoli (Giovanni Ciampoli’sNaturalrnPhilosophy); the other on the anti-Copernican views of the Jesuit astronomer,rnGiovanni Battista Riccioli—Christopher M. Graney’s Setting Aside AllrnAuthority: Giovanni Battista Riccioli and the Science against Copernicusrnin the Age of Galileo. Both publications address themes of fundamental importancernfor a proper understanding of the rise of modern scientific culture. They dealrnwith issues such as the reception of Copernicus and the impact of his astronomy onrnnatural philosophy, scientific developments in Italy in the years following Galileo’srncondemnation and the complex relations between natural scientists and Catholicrninstitutions in a phase of intensified Inquisitorial control and censorship. Theyrnaim to open up new perspectives and disclose sources that have been so far neglectedrnto the historians of science.