Experiments, Mathematics and Principles of Natural Philosophy in the Epistemology of Giovanni Battista Baliani - Advances in Historical Studies

AHS > Vol.6 No.2, June 2017

Experiments, Mathematics and Principles of Natural Philosophy in the Epistemology of Giovanni Battista Baliani ()

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DOI: 10.4236/ahs.2017.62006 1,433 Downloads 2,774 Views Citations

Author(s)

Danilo Capecchi

Affiliation(s)

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Strutturale e Geotecnica, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.

ABSTRACT

The epistemology of Giovanni Battista Baliani, a leading 17th century Italian scientist, is the focus of this article. In his treatise on motion, De motu naturali gravium solidorum (1638), Baliani’s epistemology was grounded on empirical principles—the law of the pendulum essentially—in the footsteps of the “old” mixed mathematics. In a new edition, De motu naturali gravium solidorum et liquidorum (1646), Baliani changed his approach and grounded his epistemology on principles of natural philosophy with a metaphysical and not empirical evidence. An analysis of Baliani’s writings reveals a tension between his empiricist philosophy, which he maintained throughout his life, and his mathematical approach, which was still based on experience; but on an experience derived from measurements and intrinsically affected by errors, it was hence uncertain. A comparison with Galileo’s epistemology is also made to better understand trends in mathematical physics at the end of the 1600’s.

KEYWORDS

History of Mechanics, Impetus Theory, Mixed Mathematics, Epistemology

Share and Cite:

Capecchi, D. (2017) Experiments, Mathematics and Principles of Natural Philosophy in the Epistemology of Giovanni Battista Baliani. Advances in Historical Studies, 6, 78-94. doi: 10.4236/ahs.2017.62006.

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