Galileo Courtier: The Practice of Science in the Culture of Absolutism

by Mario Biagioli

Overview

Informed by currents in sociology, cultural anthropology, and literary theory, Galileo, Courtier is neither a biography nor a conventional history of science. In the court of the Medicis and the Vatican, Galileo fashioned both his career and his science to the demands of patronage and its complex systems of wealth, power, and prestige. Biagioli argues that Galileo's courtly role was integral to his science—the questions he chose to examine, his methods, even his conclusions.

Galileo, Courtier is a fascinating cultural and social history of science highlighting the workings of power, patronage, and credibility in the development of science.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226218977
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	12/01/2018
Series:	Science and Its Conceptual Foundations series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	396
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

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Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Prologue: Court Culture and the Legitimation of Science
1: Galileo's Self-fashioning
2: Discoveries and Etiquette
3: Anatomy of a Court Dispute
4: The Anthropology of Incommensurability
Intermezzo: Roma Theatrum Mundi
5: Courtly Comets
6: Framing Galileo's Trial
Epilogue: From Patronage to Academies: A Hypothesis
References
Index