Science at the Vatican (original) (raw)
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The label of ‘Jesuit Science’ is frequently used in academic and popular literature, but it remains rather poorly defined and is in fact avoided by some specialists in the field. The present essay places some of the most recent monographic publications on Jesuit contributions to science within a critical discussion about the scope, usefulness, and challenges of the label ‘Jesuit Science’ in historical research. With this meta-study I set out an argument for what I call a case-sensitive approach to the term, that is, the importance of distinguishing between different notions of ‘Jesuit Science’. In some cases, it might be possible and useful to identify something specifically Jesuit, while in other cases it might be more prudent and adequate to highlight the shared ground with other historical actors and not to stipulate any core Jesuit identity beyond the actors being members of the Society of Jesus.