Some Historical and Historiographical Questions on the Debate between Analysts and Synthesists in the Neapolitan State, 1780-1860 (original) (raw)

In this contribution, we, firstly, deal with some historiographical interpretations of the so-called Neapolitan synthetic school of mathematics. We then illustrate the rise of the school, the events involving it in the first decades of nineteenth century and his renovation after 1840. We focus on the mathematical controversy that involved the school showing how it was largely a matter of social tensions that crossed the Kingdom of Naples (the status of engineers, the relationship between the central government and local potentates). We also analyze the relation between scientific research and professorship in Naples before 1860 and discuss whether the synthetic school can really be considered a mathematical school up to that time. Finally, we investigate the reasons for which the historical memory of the synthetic school was lost in the thirty years following the unification of Italy. We argue that oblivion was a real damnatio memoriae and that it was rooted in the political changes of 1860 that led to rewrite the history of Naples, including the history of science.