预告 | 【科技史前沿讲座46】Defining Nature’s Limits

本讲座围绕科学史研究这一中心，以跨学科研究视角与研究方法为组织方式，选择近年来新兴的研究领域与专题，安排相关学者以其具创新性的研究案例作为示范，帮助同学们迅速了解科技史研究的动态与最新进展，掌握阅读文献和评鉴文献的能力，为硕士生和博士生寻找学位论文研究方向、探索新的学术问题提供启发，激励同学们敢于站在前人学术思想与研究成果的高峰上独立思考问题。

2024年5月9日15:10-17:00

北京大学静园一院201

ZOOM会议号: 401 953 1691  密码: 556557

腾讯会议：673-585-769

In this lecture I discuss a number of the key themes from my recently published monograph Defining Nature’s Limits: The Roman Inquisition and the Boundaries of Science. Drawing on innovative scholarship in the history of the Catholic Church and the history of science and magic, I explain why the Roman Inquisition prosecuted practitioners of learned operative arts such as alchemy, astrology and various forms of natural magic in sixteenth century Italy. These arts have often been considered peripheral to the development of modern science. Consequently, the Church’s efforts to censor them have been seen to have a marginal, or perhaps even a positive impact on modern science. In this lecture I will contest this idea. The operators of these magical arts argued that since they functioned by natural means they were entirely legitimate. I suggest that the Church understood the boundaries of the natural order differently and disputed whether unaided humans could use these arts to produce their claimed effects. The Roman Inquisition’s prosecution of learned magic thus marked an important stage in the Church’s efforts to define the legitimate boundaries of scientific knowledge.

主讲人：Neil Tarrant  约克大学文艺复兴与近代早期研究中心副研究员

主持人：Daniele Macuglia 马大年  北京大学科技医史系助理教授

Neil is a specialist in the intellectual and cultural history of sixteenth-century Italy, with a particular focus on the history of science and medicine.  He studied in the History Department of the University of Edinburgh, the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine at Imperial College London and the Centre for Intellectual History at the University of Sussex.  He has subsequently worked in the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine at Imperial College, the History Department at Royal Holloway University of London, Science, Technology and Innovation Studies at the University of Edinburgh and the History Department at the University of York and the School of History at the University of Leeds.