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

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.