Abstract

MANZO, Silvia. An unrealized ideal: the separation between science and religion in Francis Bacon, Margaret Cavendish and Galileo Galilei. Soc. relig. [online]. 2021, vol.31, n.57, pp.76-76. ISSN 0326-9795.

This paper will analyze three historical cases (Francis Bacon, Galileo Galilei and Margaret Cavendish) that exemplify the complexity of the interaction between science and religion in the Scientific Revolution and confirm the interpretation of J. H. Brooke, according to which, in this historical context –rather than a separation- a differentiation took hold between them. We will hold that although these authors agreed in proposing the separation of science and religion as an ideal, each in their own way made an articulation between the two that in the long run prevented a complete separation. This articulation was due to both epistemic and extra-epistemic reasons and manifests a tension that was characteristic of the Scientific Revolution.

Keywords : Science and religion; Scientific Revolution; Francis Bacon; Galileo Galilei; Margaret Cavendish.