1. Validity of the work and scope of this edition. 2. Biographical
note. 3. Early writings. 4. Studies Sulla filosofia delle scienze
naturali (On the philosophy of natural science) and their banning by the
Congregation of the Holy Office. 5. Popular works. 6. The great
Storia. 7. Caverni's last years. 8. Odyssey of the manuscripts.
9. Conclusion.
note. 3. Early writings. 4. Studies Sulla filosofia delle scienze
naturali (On the philosophy of natural science) and their banning by the
Congregation of the Holy Office. 5. Popular works. 6. The great
Storia. 7. Caverni's last years. 8. Odyssey of the manuscripts.
9. Conclusion.
1. VALIDITY OF THE WORK AND SCOPE OF THIS EDITION
The first edition of the work presented here in photographic reprint was of
modest proportions. The author was a clergyman of the Florentine diocese, a
student of philosophy and the history of science, and when he died in early
1900 the work was suspended halfway through the sixth volume even though
a practically completed manuscript did exist. Nor was it ever reprinted,
although our literature is anything but rich in this field, especially in that
turn-of-the-century period. From a distance of seventy years one might well
ask whether Caverni's work is still valid or if it is not by now completely out
dated, to be exhumed only as a document of a bygone phase of the history of
science.
modest proportions. The author was a clergyman of the Florentine diocese, a
student of philosophy and the history of science, and when he died in early
1900 the work was suspended halfway through the sixth volume even though
a practically completed manuscript did exist. Nor was it ever reprinted,
although our literature is anything but rich in this field, especially in that
turn-of-the-century period. From a distance of seventy years one might well
ask whether Caverni's work is still valid or if it is not by now completely out
dated, to be exhumed only as a document of a bygone phase of the history of
science.
Recently, however, a voice of great authority has assured us that the work
is still of cultural importance. Eugenio Garin, in a lecture on La cultura
fiorentina nell'età di Leonardo (Florentine culture in the age of Leonardo)
includes a penetrating and original opinion of Caverni, referring to La storia
del metodo sperimentale in Italia as “a work wrongly forgotten.”
For the
oblivion in which it has remained for so long, almost an unjust and mistaken
ostracism, has encouraged the persistence of the legend that it is an essentially
anti-Galilean work. Actually, the critical perspective and the dispassionate
(even if, naturally, not infallible) examination of the sources that characterize
this work are clearly in contrast with the emphasis and tone of the writings of
the Italian Galileans who, from Viviani to Favaro, have felt they had to serve
unsolicited and superfluous, as the extreme apologists or defenders of Galileo
The latest representatives of this tradition, whom we cannot hesitate to cal
is still of cultural importance. Eugenio Garin, in a lecture on La cultura
fiorentina nell'età di Leonardo (Florentine culture in the age of Leonardo)
includes a penetrating and original opinion of Caverni, referring to La storia
del metodo sperimentale in Italia as “a work wrongly forgotten.”
For the
oblivion in which it has remained for so long, almost an unjust and mistaken
ostracism, has encouraged the persistence of the legend that it is an essentially
anti-Galilean work. Actually, the critical perspective and the dispassionate
(even if, naturally, not infallible) examination of the sources that characterize
this work are clearly in contrast with the emphasis and tone of the writings of
the Italian Galileans who, from Viviani to Favaro, have felt they had to serve
unsolicited and superfluous, as the extreme apologists or defenders of Galileo
The latest representatives of this tradition, whom we cannot hesitate to cal