Mechanics and the Mobility Turn in Mechanics, Scholars and Objects: The Spread of Aristotle’s Philosophy and Its Exponents in Early Modern Europe

This essay discusses the issues surrounding scholar mobility and the use of vernacular Italian in “Le Mecchaniche”, Filippo Pigafetta’s translation of “Mechanicorum Liber” by Guidobaldo del Monte. The first part of this essay describes the circles within which Mechanics were discussed. The members of these circles were Greek-language enthusiasts, including students, teachers, technicians and military engineers, who frequented the University of Padua’s circles and the city’s private libraries in the second half of the 16th century. They were Catholic and anti-Ottoman, held philosophical, practical-empirical and rationalist beliefs, and were open to the international mobility of French, Dutch and Iberian scholars. Their hallmark, however, was their determination to disseminate ancient and contemporary scientific studies, especially those concerning everyday issues, which today would be covered by Mechanical Engineering and its related subjects, e.g. Mathematics, Physics and Ballistics. The second part focuses on several key features of the “Mobility Turn”, taking a brief look at the free movement of scholars and ideas. It also covers how the concept of motion within “Mechanicorum Liber” and its drawings intertwines with Pigafetta’s life, multilingualism, travels to the farthest reaches of Renaissance Europe, and the reasons for these travels. The third part of this essay specifically examines the Mobility Turn and illustrates the initial results of a heuristic intuition that will require further investigation.