The Portuguese Popularizer of Science Teodoro De Almeida: Agendas,Publics,and Bilingualism

Kant Immanuel , “What is Enlightenment”, in Jacob Margaret C. , The Enlightenment: A brief history with documents (Boston, 2001), 204. The Kantian dichotomy public use/private use of reason was later reshaped in the historical-sociological concept of “public sphere” by Habermas Jürgen , The structural transformation of the public sphere (Cambridge, 1992). For an example of appropriation of this concept in history of science see Borman Thomas , “The Habermasian public sphere and ‘Science in the Enlightenment’”, History of science, xxxvi (1998), 123–49.

Other instances of cultural renovation include the political and educational reforms carried out in the reigns of José I (1750–77), Maria I (1777–92) and João VI (1792–1826). On the introduction of the new sciences in eighteenth-century Portugal see Simões An Carneiro Ana Diogo Maria Paula , “Constructing knowledge: Eighteenth-century Portugal and the new sciences”, Archimedes, ii (1999), 1–40. On cultural renewal see Dias J. S. Silva , Portugal e a cultura Europeia séculos XVI a XVIII (Porto, 2006; 1st edn 1953); de Carvalho Rómulo , História do ensino em Portugal (Lisbon, 1996).

The role of Count of Ericeira in the cultural panorama of eighteenth-century Portugal is addressed in Milheiro Ofélia Monteiro Caldas Paiva , No alvorecer do Iluminismo em Portugal, Separata da Revista de história literária de Portugal, i (Coimbra, 1965).

Other academies were Academia dos Generosos (Academy of the Generous) (1693), Conferências Discretas e Eruditas (Learned and Discrete Conferences) (1696), Academia dos Ilustrados (Academy of the Enlightened) (1716), and Academia Portuguesa (Portuguese Academy) (1717).

Two of the best-known members of the Ericeira Circle were Father Rafael Bluteau, a French Oratorian, polymath, advocate of the experimental approach and traveller — Whose best known books are Vocabulário da língua Portuguesa (Vocabulary of the Portuguese language) (1712) and Prosas Portuguesas (Portuguese prose) (1727) — And Manuel de Azevedo Fortes, engineer and popularizer of Descartes and Locke, whose main work was titled Lógica racional, geométrica e analítica (Rational, geometrical and analytical logic) (1744).

I will not delve here into a detailed characterization of names and contributions of this élite which are discussed in Carneiro Ana Simões An Diogo Maria Paula , “Enlightenment science in Portugal: The Estrangeirados and their communication networks”, Social studies of science, xxx (2000), 591–619, and Diogo Maria Paula Carneiro Ana Simões An , “Ciência Portuguesa no Iluminismo: Os estrangeirados e as comunidades científicas europeias”, in Nunes João Arriscado Gonçalves Maria Eduarda (eds), Enteados de Galileu? A semiperiferia no sistema mundial da ciência (Lisbon, 2001), 209–38. For a different approach see Dias Silva , op. cit. (ref. 2), 167–84, and Martins Décio Ruivo , “Aspectos da cultura portuguesa até 1772”, Ph.D. dissertation, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Coimbra, 1997.

Dias Silva , op. cit. (ref. 2), 169–71, 320–6. On Pombal's work and context see Maxwell Kenneth , Pombal: Paradox of the Enlightenment (Cambridge, 1995).

Carneiro Simões Diogo , op. cit. (ref. 6), 571–3. Both Verney and Sanches lived most of their lives abroad. Verney left Portugal for Rome, for good, at the age of 23, after his graduation at the University of Évora. In Rome, he took his doctorate in theology. He died in 1792. Ribeiro Sanches was persecuted by the Inquision for being a Jew, being exiled at the age of 27 and never returning to Portugal. At Leiden he graduated in medicine, being recommended by Herman Boerhaave, his teacher, for a position as physician at the St Petersburg Court. He was made a fellow of the Royal Society, of the Académie des Sciences de Paris, and of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon. Sanches returned to Paris in 1747 and stayed there till his death. Among his writings we highlight also his contributions to L'Encyclopédie (António Rosa Mendes, “Ribeiro Sanches”, in Medina João (ed.), História de Portugal, ix (Lisbon, 2004), 449–55).

The Royal College of Nobles began in 19 March 1766, fve years after its legal foundation in 7 March 1761 and two years after Jesuits were forbidden to teach in any Portuguese territory. Domenico Vandelli and Giovanni Dalla Bella were among the Italian teachers invited by Pombal to teach at the new institution. The foundation of the Royal College of Nobles marks the onset of the educational reform of secondary schools promoted by Pombal. Low nobility and those selected by Pombal himself were deemed worthy of admission. This was a sign of Pombal's absolutist policy promotion of both the low nobility and the high bourgeoisie of tradesmen. On the Royal College of Nobles see de Carvalho Rómulo , História da fundação do Real Colégio de Nobres de Lisboa (Coimbra, 1959).

According to its statutes, the Royal College of Mafra was intended for the children of families that “either enjoy the noble condition, or live decently”. See Carvalho , op. cit. (ref. 2), 457.

On the history of Coimbra University see Braga Teófilo , História da Universidade de Coimbra nas suas relações com a Instrução Pública (Lisbon, 1898). For an overview on Pombal's educational reform see de Andrade A. A. Banha , A Reforma Pombalina dos estudos secundários 1759–1771 (Coimbra, 1981); Carvalho , op. cit. (ref. 2), 423–83; de Carvalho Rómulo , “A física na reforma pombalina”, in A actividade científica em Portugal no século XVIII (Évora, 1996), 605–32. See also Araújo Ana Cristina (ed.)., O Marquês de Pombal e a Universidade (Coimbra, 2000).

It is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss the effective contributions of many personalities whose writings and works were determinant to the foundation and development of all these institutions. Such information and other bibliographical references can be found in Ribeiro José Silvestre , Historia dos estabelecimentos scientificos litterarios e artisticos de Portugal nos sucessivos reinados da monarchia (Lisbon, 1871–1914), Carvalho , op. cit. (ref. 2), Carneiro Simões Diogo , op. cit. (ref. 6), and Simões Carneiro Diogo , op. cit. (ref. 2).

The Congregation of the Oratory was originally founded in Rome, in 1575, by the Italian priest St Philip Neri. See, on the history of the Congregation of Oratory in Portugal, de Almeida Fortunato , História da Igreja em Portugal, ii (Lisbon, 1968); dos Santos Eugénio , “Oratorianos”, in Azevedo Carlos Moreira (ed.), Dicionário de história religiosa de Portugal (Lisbon, 2000), 328–34; Silva Dias, op. cit. (ref. 2).

Members of the Congregation who wanted to leave the order took with them the same properties they had offered upon entrance. Santos , op. cit. (ref. 13), 330, 331.

da Silva Gonçalves Nuno , “Jesuítas”, in Azevedo Carlos Moreira (ed.), Dicionário de história religiosa de Portugal (Lisbon, 2000), 21–31.

Carvalho , op. cit. (ref. 2), 389, 390.

From 1590, mathematics was taught in “Aula da Esfera” at the College of Santo Antão and, later on, at Évora University, Elvas College and Coimbra University. See for a brief review and bibliography on more recent contributions, Leitão Henrique , “A história da ciência e a revista Brotéria”, in Rico Hermínio Franco José Eduardo (eds), Fé, ciência, cultura: Brotéria/100 anos (Lisbon, 2003), 326–50. On the scientific activities at the College of Santo Antão and for an up-to-date bibliography see Leitão Henriqu , A ciência na “Aula da Esfera” no Colégio de Santo Antão (1590–1759) (Lisbon, 2007); de Albuquerque Luís , “A Aula de Esfera do Colégio de Santo Antão no século XVII”, Anais da Academia Portuguesa de História, 2nd ser., xxi (1972), 1972–91. Astronomical observations were central to the scientific practices of the Jesuits. For instance, the Italian Jesuit Giovanni Battista Carbone who arrived in Portugal in 1722 at the invitation of King John V was the promoter of an astronomical observatory at the Santo Antão College, built with the financial support of John V. Some of the astronomical observations made at this observatory after 1724 were published in Acta eruditorium and Philosophical transactions, initiating a period of international collaboration in the realm of astronomical observations. On this see de Carvalho Rómulo , A astronomia em Portugal no século XVIII (Lisbon, 1985); de Carvalho Rómulo , “Portugal nas Philosophical Transactions nos séculos XVII e XVIII”, Separata da Revista de filosofia, no. 1516 (1956), 359; de Andrade A. A. Banha , A Reforma Pombalina nos estudos secundários (1759–1771), doctoral dissertation, Coimbra, 1981/84, i, 26.

See, on this subject, de Carvalho Rómulo , A física experimental em Portugal no século XVIII (Lisbon, 1982); Carvalho , op. cit. (ref. 17). There were also individual attempts at upgrading the Jesuit Scholastic approach in order to incorporate aspects of the modern philosophy. The most notorious was that of Inácio Monteiro who in 1754–56 published Compêndio dos elementos de matemática (Compendium of mathematical elements) (see Martins , op. cit. (ref. 6), for an approach to Monteiro's natural philosophy). The boldness of Monteiro's ideas was at the origin of his superiors' criticism according to which “he approached the lovers of novelties more than is appropriate”, daring “to criticize irreverently some authors [Scholastics], in a way deemed sacrilege by wise men” ( Rodrigues Francisco , História da Companhia de Jesus na Assistência de Portugal (Porto, 1931–50), iv, 419).

Franco José Eduardo , O mito dos Jesuítas, i (Lisbon, 2006), 301–4.

Dias Silva , op. cit. (ref. 2), 206, 207.

Another line of confrontation was embodied in the proposal of a new Latin grammar by the Oratorian António Pereira de Figueiredo, Novo método de gramática Latina (New method of Latin grammar) (1753). This new grammar opposed the old Latin grammar (1572) authored by the Jesuit Manuel Álvares and used in the Jesuit Colleges all over Europe ( Carvalho , op. cit. (ref. 2), 335–8).

Although these were the first lectures on experimental physics delivered at an institutional level, there is notice of a “Course on Experimental Philosophy” delivered in 1725 by the Englishman Luis Baden at the house of a nobleman. This course was publicized in Gazeta de Lisboa (Lisbon gazette), 18 October 1725. Transcription of the anouncement can be found in de Carvalho Joaquim , “João Locke, Ensaio philosóphico sobre o entendimento humano: Introdução”, Boletim da Biblioteca da Universidade de Coimbra, xx (1951), 43–70.

de Santa Rita Joaquim , Academia dos Humildes e Ignorantes, iii (Lisbon, 1762), 138.

The letter is partially transcribed in Andrade , op. cit. (ref. 11), i, 44, 45.

Sarmento was a descendant of New Christians living in Portugal. Persecuted by the Inquisition, he went to London in 1721 where he professed Judaism, never returning to his country. He took his degree of Doctor of Medicine at Aberdeen University, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. In 1731, Sarmento wrote a letter to his friend Count of Ericeira defending the utility of translating the philosophical works of Francis Bacon. Despite having secured the approval of King João V, as a result of manoeuvering in the Portuguese Court (which he latter attributed to the Jesuit Carbonne, one of the king's counsellors) Sarmento never got the promised financial support needed to complete his project. See da Silva Inocêncio Francisco , Diccionario bibliographico Portuguez (Lisbon, 1998), iii, 247; Braga , op. cit. (ref. 12), 10; Goldish Matt , “‘Newtonian, converso, and deist’: The lives of Jacob (Henrique) de Castro Sarmento”, Science in context, x (1997), 651–75.

The first biographical text on Teodoro de Almeida, ascribed to the Oratorian priest Joaquim Dâmaso, is a manuscript entitled Vida do P. Teodoro de Almeida da Congregação do Oratório de Lisboa (1830), Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, ms. 2316, §11, transcribed in Francisco Contente Domingues , Teodoro de Almeida (1722–1804): Subsídios para uma biografia (Lisbon, 1986), 218–91. For a cultural history approach to the works of Teodoro de Almeida see Domingues Francisco Contente , Ilustração e Catolicismo: Teodoro de Almeida (Lisbon, 1994); Azevedo Ferdinand , Teodoro de Almeida and the Portuguese Enlightenment (Washington, DC, 1974); Santos Zulmira C. , “Literatura e espiritualidade na obra de Teodoro de Almeida (1722–1804)”, Ph.D. thesis, Universidade do Porto, 2002.

de Almeida Teodoro , Recreação philosophica ou Dialogo sobre a filozofia racional para instrucção de pessoas curiozas que não frequentarão as aulas, i, 4th edn (Lisbon, 1778), Dedication, pp. vii, ix. In this paper, all translations into English of excerpts of Philosophical recreation, as well as of other works written originally in Portuguese, are ours.

Ibid., pp. vi, vii.

Ibid., p. ii.

Ibid., Dedication, p. viii.

Almeida refers to “Wolf, 'sGravesand, Musschenbroek, MacLaurin, Keil, Desaguliers, and the excellent books by Father João Baptista of the Oratorian Congregation” as model textbooks of modern philosophy. Ibid., Prologue, p. xix.

Ibid., Dedication, p. iii.

Ibid., p. iii.

Ibid., Prologue, pp. vii, ix, x.

The fact that Almeida used the term “Volume VI AND LAST” in this volume's subtitle suggests that his initial plan ended with the printing of the sixth volume. Furthermore he ended the sixth volume with the sentence “END OF THE WHOLE WORK”, written in capital letters. However, more four volumes were to appear.

For an overview of the circulation of natural science in eighteenth-century European institutions see Brockliss Lawrence , “Science, the universities and other public spaces”, in Porter Roy (ed.), The Cambridge history of science: Eighteenth-century science (Cambridge, 2003), 44–86.

Estatutos da Universidade de Coimbra (1772), Livro III (Coimbra, 1972), 227, 232.

Almeida , op. cit. (ref. 27), 5–8. Almeida's approach agreed, generally, with the common eighteenth-century view on the classification of knowledge. see on this topic Yeo Richard , “Classifying the sciences”, in Porter (ed.), op. cit. (ref. 36), 241–66.

Almeida , Recreação philosophica, vii: Logic (Lisbon, 1768), 5. Almeida stressed this opinion later, in the Prologue of the last volume of PR, vol. x (About moral philosophy) in an a posteriori vindication of his overall organization of the subjects dealt in Philosophical recreation.

Almeida wrote other works, mostly of religious and moral nature. One of them was The happy man, independent of fortune and of the world (O feliz independente do mundo e da fortuna) (1779), a moral novel inspired in Les aventures de Télémaque by the French theologian François Fénelon, which became another best-seller in the Iberian Peninsula with 26 editions in Spanish (1779–1884) ( Santos , op. cit. (ref. 26), 433–6).

For details on the banishment and exile of Teodoro de Almeida and other Oratorians see de Andrade A. A. Banha , Contributos para a história da mentalidade pedagógica Portuguesa (Lisbon, 1982), 419–33, and Dâmaso , op. cit. (ref. 26), §§18 and 57.

During his exile in France Almeida exchanged letters with Francisco Sanches, asking for medical advice, and telling him about the machines he was building, his writings, and other incidents of his daily life. The letters were transcribed in Azevedo Maria Leopoldina , “P. Teodoro de Almeida, subsídios para o estudo da sua vida e obra”, B.A. diss., Coimbra, 1959, 278–370.

Such as walking on the beach, visiting friends or even riding a boat.

Lisboa João , Ciência e política: Ler nos finais do Antigo Regime (Lisbon, 1992), 41.

For an inventory of the translations of Philosophical recreation as well of those of Almeida's other works, see Santos , op. cit. (ref. 26), 517–26.

Editions of Recreação philosophica dedicated to ” The curious people who did not attend classes, and haven't got yet other books in which they could learn about Philosophy and History of the three kingdoms of Nature” were still to be found in India and Brazil in the middle of the nineteenth century: Diniz Pedro , Das ordens religiosas em Portugal (Lisbon, 1854), quoted in de Andrade A. A. Banha (ed.), Dicionário de história da Igreja em Portugal, i (Lisbon, 1980), 147. see on this subject: Ricard R. , “Sur la difusion des oeuvres du P. Teodoro de Almeida”, Boletim internacional de biografia Luso-Brasileira, iv (1963), 1963–30; Piwnik Marie-Hélèn , “Les souscripteurs Espagnols du P. Teodoro de Almeida (1722–1804)”, Bulletin des études Portugaises et Brésilliennes, nos 42–43 (1981–82), 95–119; Piwnik Marie-Hélèn , “Une entreprise lucrative: Les traductions en espagnol du père Teodoro de Almeida”, Arquivos do Centro Cultural Português, xxxi (Lisbon and Paris, 1992), 199–206; Santos Zulmira C. , “As traduções das obras de espiritualidade de Teodoro de Almeida (1722–1804) em Espanha e França: Estado da questão, formas e tempos”, Via spiritus, i (1994), 1994–208; Santos , op. cit. (ref. 26), 441.

Furlong S. J. Guillermo S.J. , Nacimiento y desarrollo de la filosofia en el Rio de la Plata 1536–1810 (Buenos Aires, 1952), 254.

See, for instance, Mazzotti Massimo , “Newton for ladies: Gentility, gender and radical culture”, The British journal for the history of science, xxxvii (2004), 119–46.

A detailed account and transcription of primary sources on this issue is given in Braga , op. cit. (ref. 11), iii, 273–80.

See ref. 17.

For a brief account on those textbooks and their authors see de Andrade , op. cit. (ref. 11), 415–17.

Almeida , Recreação philosophica, x (Lisbon, 1800), Dedicatória. Italics are in the original.

Almeida , Recreação philosophica, ix (Lisbon, 1793), Dedicatória, p. iv.

Voltaire's works quoted by Almeida in order to contradict them are Essai sur les moeurs et l'esprit des nations (1756) and Poème sur la loi naturelle (1752). The entries “Authorité” and “Gouvernement” of L'Encyclopédie are also quoted in the text.

Almeida , op. cit. (ref. 52), 319.

Ibid., 326.

Ibid., 357, 358.

Ibid., 370, 371.

Ibid., 375.

Ibid., 371.

Some of the most outstanding advocates and theorizers of regalism and episcopalism during the reign of King José I were António Pereira de Figueiredo, author of De suprema regum (1765) and Tentativa teológica (1776), António Ribeiro dos Santos, author of De sacerdotium et imperium (1770), and José Seabra da Silva, who wrote Dedução cronológica e analítica (1768). For a brief overview of eighteenth-century Portuguese political philosophy see Calafate Pedro , “A filosofia política”, in Calafate Pedro (ed.), História do pensamento filosófico Português: As luzes, iii (Lisbon, 2001), 44–62.

Almeida , Recreação philosophica, x (Lisbon, 1793), 386.

Almeida , op. cit. (ref. 27), p. iii.

Together with happiness and instruction, utility formed a trilogy characteristic of the Enlightenment. Examples are discussed in Reis Fernando Egídio , Felicidade, utilidade e instrução: A divulgação científica no Jornal Enciclopédico dedicado à Rainha 1779; 1788–1793; 1806 (Porto, 2005), 12–14.

Almeida , Recreação philosophica, ix, 228.

Almeida , Recreação philosophica, v (Lisbon, 1761), 238.

Almeida , op. cit. (ref. 27), 52, 53.

Extensive evidence of this can be found, for instance, in Almeida , PR, ii, 369–73; PR, v, 24; PR, ix, 48, 50, 56, 156, 172. See, for a comprehensive account on the design argument and natural theology in the eighteenth century, Brooke John H. Cantor Geoffrey , Reconstructing nature: The engagement of science and religion (Edinburgh, 1998), 175–206.

Brook Cantor , op. cit. (ref. 68).

Almeida , Recreação philosophica, ix, Dedicatória, p. ii.

Almeida was probably referring to De l'esprit (1758) by C. A. Helvétius.

Probably Voltaire's Essai sur les moeurs et l'esprit des nations.

Almeida , Recreação philosophica, x, Dedicatória, 2.

Marques Maria Adelaide S. , “Pombalismo e cultura média: Meios para um diagnóstico através da Real Mesa Censória”, Brotéria, cxv (1982), 181–208.

Habermas Jürgen , The structural transformation of the public sphere (Cambridge, 1989). See, on the use of the concept of public sphere in the history of science, Roger Cooter and Stephen Pumfrey, “Separate spheres and public places: Reflections on the history of science popularization and science in popular culture”, History of science, xxxii (1994), 1994–67, and Broman , op. cit. (ref. 1).

Araújo Ana Cristina , A cultura das Luzes em Portugal (Lisbon, 2002); Maria-Hélène-Piwnik , Échanges érudites dans la Péninsule Ibérique (1750–1757) (Lisbon, 1987).

Broman , op. cit. (ref. 1), 127.

Almeida , op. cit. (ref. 27), Dedication, p. iii.

Ibid., p. iv.

Ibid., p. vii.

Broman , op. cit. (ref. 1), 127.

Almeida , op. cit. (ref. 27), p. ix.

Ibid., p. vii.

Serrão José Vicente , “O quadro humano”, in Mattoso José (ed.), História de Portugal (Lisbon, 1993), 51–67.

de Oliveira Marques A. H. , Breve história de Portugal (Lisbon, 1995), 509.

Martinho de Mendonça Pina e Proença, librarian to King João V and member of Ericeira Circle, was a pedagogue and contributor to the Portuguese cultural renewal in the first half of the eighteenth century. Travelling through Europe, he became acquainted with modern philosophical systems such as those of Gassendi, Descartes and Wolf. His writings, namely Notes for the education of a young noble (1734), were much influenced by Locke's Some thoughts concerning education (1693).

Sanches Ribeiro , Cartas sobre a educação da mocidade (Coimbra, 1922, ed. of Lemos Maximiano ), http://purl.pt/129, 108–15 (3 May 2008).

See, for an inventory of the editions and translations of Almeida's Recreação philosophica, Santos , op. cit. (ref. 26).

The Lisbon gazette enables one to trace some 4 to 14 booksellers in Lisbon, and approximately 3 to 9 in Coimbra and Oporto. Ten years later, in 1790, urban centres with booksellers increased to 14, with 22 out of 35 booksellers settled in Lisbon ( Lisboa , op. cit. (ref. 44), 44, 45). The publication of the Lisbon gazette began in August 1715. From June 1762 to August 1778 its publication was interrupted under Pombal's orders, being resumed from 1778 to July 1883, under several editors and designations including: Diário do governo and Diário da regência.

“Réis” was the Portuguese coin at the time. This was a medium price for works of the kind published at the time ( Lisboa , op. cit. (ref. 44), 58–64). Vol. ix of Recreação philosophica, Harmony of reason and religion (1793), includes in its last eight pages a “Catalogue of books to be sold at the entrance-hall of the House of Holy Spirit in Lisbon”. We conclude that each volume of Recreação philosophica could be bought separately for 400 réis. In 1733, an apprentice artisan with two years' training earned a daily wage of 200 to 240 réis and a master earned 600 réis; a pound of rice cost 35 réis (see Piwnik Marie-Hélèn , O anónimo: Journal portugais du XVIIIème siècle (1752–1754) (Paris, 1979), 88).

For a sociological profile of the Spanish subscribers of Almeida see Piwnik , op. cit. (ref. 46), 95–119.

See Piwnik , O anónimo (ref. 90).

Jornal enciclopédico dedicado à Rainha Nossa Senhora, e destinado para instrucção geral, com a notícia dos novos descobrimentos em todas as sciencias e artes was a monthly periodical published intermittently between 1799 and 1806. Reis , op. cit. (ref. 64) and also “Scientific dissemination in Portuguese encyclopaedic periodicals, 1799–1820”, History of science, xiv (2007), 83–118.

Gazeta literária, ou Notícia exacta dos principaes escriptos modernos, conforme a analysis que delles fazem os melhores críticos, e diaristas da Europa was a monthly journal published by Francisco Bernardo de Lima, first in Oporto then in Lisbon, between July 1761 and June 1762.

Piwnik , op. cit. (ref. 90), 87, 90, 91.

Reis , op. cit. (ref. 64), 7, 8.

Concerning Spanish readership, the same sociological profile emerges from the analysis of a list of subscribers of Gazeta de Madrid, which advertised some of Almeida's works ( Piwnik , op. cit. (ref. 46)).

Piwnik , Ibid., 106–8. The same pattern emerges for the profile of the audience who attended public lectures such as “A course on experimental philosophy”, given by the Englishman Luis Baden. According to the announcement, three kinds of publics were expected to attend the course: “… Noblemen, Foreigners and Portuguese, distributed over three different days of the week” ( Carvalho , op. cit. (ref. 22)).

de Carvalho Rómulo , História do Gabinete de Física da Universidade de Coimbra (Coimbra, 1978), 115.

Furlong , op. cit. (ref. 47), 254, 255, 271, 296, 376 and 400.

Lanning John Tate , “The reception of the Enlightenment in Latin America”, in Whitaker Arthur (ed.), Latin America and the Enlightenment (Ithaca, 1961), 71–93, p. 73.

[ Amaro Paulo ], Mercurio philosophico dirigido aos philosophos de Portugal (Augusta, 1752).

“Famião Ferrão Philalethe”, Palinodia manifesta (Seville, 1752).

For a discussion concerning the author of Mercury philosophico see Azevedo , op. cit. (ref. 26), 50, and Gomes João Pereira , “Mercúrio Filosófico: A propósito de uma polémica no século XVIII”, Brotéria, xliii (1946), 383–98.

Almeida , op. cit. (ref. 27), 26–36.

Almeida , Recreação philosophica, ii (Lisbon, 1751), 300–16.

Ibid., 352.

Ibid., 376.

“Philalethe”, op. cit. (ref. 103).

Almeida , op. cit. (ref. 27), 6.

Amaro , op. cit. (ref. 102), 6.

Ibid., 6, 7.

Amaro goes on to tell about a dream he had after returning home frustrated for not being allowed to enter the Oratorian school. It was about an Assembly of Philosophers which invited Amaro to participate in their meetings and aimed at establishing peace and harmony between Moderns and Ancients in Portugal. The dream ends with the reading of the conclusions of the Assembly, proposing a kind of eclectic harmony between peripatetic philosophy and experimental philosophy.

Amaro , op. cit. (ref. 102), 6.

Ibid., 78.

Dâmaso , op. cit. (ref. 26), §21.

Carvalho , op. cit. (ref. 22), 175.

Biagioli Mario , Galileo courtier: The practice of science in the culture of absolutism (Chicago, 1993), 211–44, extends the concept of incommensurability, introduced by Paul K. Feyerabend and T. S. Kuhn, from the linguistic and conceptual point of view to socio-professional and power realms.

According to the Amaro Jesuit Paulo , the “vulgarization of Philosophy” taking place in the lectures on Experimental Philosophy delivered in the Oratorian House of Necessities and addressed to those who could not read Latin was a kind of promotion of “Science prostitution” ( Amaro , op. cit. (ref. 102), 7).

Piwnik , op. cit. (ref. 92), 210.

Carta que se escreveu ao P. Theodoro de Almeida, sobre a Oração que recitou na Abertura da Academia das Sciencias de Lisboa, BNL, cod. 8058, ff. 31–5.

He was also made fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1758.

Biagioli , op. cit. (ref. 118), 247–58.

Almeida , Recreação philosophica, viii (Lisbon, 1792), 124–6.

This letter is transcribed in Azevedo , op. cit. (ref. 42), 314.