The Polemic between Pierre Gassendi and Jean Baptiste Morin on Galileism, Copernicanism, and Galileian Astrology

The polemic between Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655) and the astrologer and mathematician Jean-Baptiste Morin (1591-1659) – which followed the publication of Gassendi’s “Galileian” letters De motu impresso a motore translato in 1642 – is widely regarded as a defining moment for the destiny of astrology in early modern France. It is believed to have marked a “public execution,” and the subsequent progressive passing of astrology from modern scientific discourse. Less emphasis has been paid, however, to the significance of such debates in the establishment of Galileian science in early modern France. This presentation reconstructs the phases of this debate, and argues that they show the numerous turns in the fortune and acceptance of Galieian-inspired astronomy, on the one hand, and of astrology, on the other, as well as the strategies that each of the historical actors had to put in place to overcome censorship (or worse) and to credit themselves as legitimate “scientists.”