Autonomy and Authority Exploring the ways in which Revolutions in early modern technology and scientific thought animated discussions about power BY MICHAEL FALETRA
Galileo’s Two Views of the Moon (1610), based on his observations through a telescope, advanced astronomy.
22 Reed Magazine march 2022
The introduction of the printing press with movable type created an explosion in the availability and sheer volume of printed books by the early 16th century. By midcentury, it is estimated that over a million separate titles were in print in practically every European language. The French writer François Rabelais referred to this dizzying proliferation of new print texts as “an abyss of learning”—and, indeed, the impact of print on the European mind is perhaps comparable to the impact of digital media on contemporary culture. Written accounts of the so-called “New World” by Columbus, Bernal Díaz, and Bartolomé de las Casas were consumed by a readership eager for new geographic and ethnographic information. Likewise, work in what we now call the sciences could be shared broadly and rapidly: Galileo’s Starry Messenger with its sketches of lunar mountains (seen here), the moons of Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn, not only radically altered people’s perceptions of the cosmos but also disseminated these ideas far more quickly than political and religious authorities could suppress them. The groundwork for the open sharing of what would come to be called “scientific” ideas was being laid. This new ease of access to books also meant that, for the first time in history, Christians in great numbers could actually own a Bible—which also meant they could read it privately, with or without the supervision of ecclesiastical authorities, and usually in the new vernacular translations into English, German, and other languages.
