2024 #1, Luís Campos Ribeiro (CIUHCT, Universidade de Lisboa), "Traditional Knowledge in Flux: the Challenges of Global Navigations on Forecasting Methods"

abstract

From erudite cosmology to technical computations, the global navigations and the European settlement of new territories brought about a drastic change in traditional knowledge. With new realities and challenges, new methodologies and theories had to be devised. Many expanded from already established knowledge such as navigation methods, others had to be created anew. Among the many methods that required adaptation to this new reality was astrology, a common prognostication technique applied to almost every facet of pre-modern life. This lecture presents astrology and its developments as a case study for the transformation of traditional knowledge in the Early Modern period.

about the speaker

Luís Campos Ribeiro is an historian of science and art. He has a PhD on the History and Philosophy of Sciences by the University of Lisbon published by Brill with the title Jesuit Astrology: Prognostication and Science in Early Modern Culture (2023). His research focuses the history of astrology, astronomy and medicine (Medieval and Early Modern) as well as scientific illustration. He is currently a researcher at CIUHCT, University of Lisbon, heads the international Astra Project: Historical research on astrological techniques and practices and is a postdoc researcher at the ERC Rutter Project both hosted by CIUHCT, University of Lisbon.