Science and the secrets of nature: books of secrets in medieval and early modern culture

Abstract

In closely examining this rich but little-known source of literature, Eamon reveals that printing technology and popular culture had as great, if not stronger, an impact on early modern science as did the traditional academic disciplines. Medieval interest in the secrets of nature was spurred in part by ancient works such as Pliny's Natural History. As medieval experimenters adapted ancient knowledge to their changing needs, they created their own books of secrets, which expressed the uncritical, empiricist approach of popular culture rather than the subtle argumentation of scholastic science. The crude experimental methodology advanced by the "professors of secrets" became for the "new philosophers" of the seventeenth century a potent ideological weapon in the challenge of natural philosophy.

Contents

Introduction: Printing, Popular Culture, and the Scientific Revolution -- pt. 1 -- The Literature of Secrets-- 1. The Literature of Secrets in the Middle Ages-- 2. Knowledge and Power -- pt. 2 -- The Secrets of Nature in the Age of Printing -- 3. Arcana Disclosed -- 4. The Professors of Secrets and Their Books -- 5. Leonardo Fioravanti, Vendor of Secrets -- 6. Natural Magic and the Secrets of Nature -- 7. The Secrets of Nature in Popular Culture -- pt. 3 -- The "New Philosophy" -- 8. Science as a Venatio -- 9. The Virtuosi and the Secrets of Nature. -- 10. From the Secrets of Nature to Public Knowledge -- Appendix: Secreti Italiani: Italian Booklets of Secrets, ca. 1520-1643.