Copernicanism in the Classroom: Jesuit Natural Philosophy and Mathematics after 1633

Abstract

This article examines presentations of the Copernican system in courses of natural philosophy and mathematics at the Jesuit Collegio Romano during the seventeenth century. Using printed and manuscript teaching materials, it documents how the introduction of Copernicanism, especially following Galileo’s condemnation, prompted subtle modifications to the types of questions and evidence presented to students and led professors to appropriate topics from mathematics into their philosophical curriculum and vice versa. These patterns offer insight into the local context and circumstances in which Jesuit professors both interpreted the Catholic Church’s condemnation and were impelled to innovate their curriculum in response to new intellectual currents.