The Biblical Basis of the Natural Philosophy of Dr. Francisco Valles de Covarrubias (1524-1592)

FAIN: FT-57484-10

Maria M. Portuondo
Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD 21218-2608)

The summer project entails the study of the natural philosophical works of Dr. Francisco Valles de Covarrubias (1524-1592) and archival research into the publication history of his works. A principal component of this work involves research in the archives of the Spanish Inquisition in Spain. My preliminary investigation suggests that Valles attempted to join the exegete Benito Arias Montano (1527-1598) in formulating a new natural philosophy that found its metaphysical - and even physical - basis in the biblical text. This biblist approach led Valles to formulate a natural philosophy that was a radical re-conceptualization of Aristotelian and Neoplatonic ideas about nature. Yet, his natural philosophical ideas have not been the object of much study nor have his formulations been contextualized relative to that of his contemporaries. His work illustrates the nature of scientific discourse among philosophers of the nascent Scientific Revolution and as such merits due consideration.

Associated Products

Secret Science: Spanish Cosmography and the New World (Book)
Title: Secret Science: Spanish Cosmography and the New World
Author: Maria Portuondo
Abstract: The discovery of the New World raised many questions for early modern scientists: What did these lands contain? Where did they lie in relation to Europe? Who lived there, and what were their inhabitants like? Imperial expansion necessitated changes in the way scientific knowledge was gathered, and Spanish cosmographers in particular were charged with turning their observations of the New World into a body of knowledge that could be used for governing the largest empire the world had ever known. As María M. Portuondo here shows, this cosmographic knowledge had considerable strategic, defensive, and monetary value that royal scientists were charged with safeguarding from foreign and internal enemies. Cosmography was thus a secret science, but despite the limited dissemination of this body of knowledge, royal cosmographers applied alternative epistemologies and new methodologies that changed the discipline, and, in the process, how Europeans understood the natural world.
Year: 2009
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780226675343
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

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