The origins of physics teaching in Portugal in the 18th century

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss the extent to which traditional views held in literature about the scientific conservatism of Jesuits and the more progressive approach of Oratorians in the 18th Century in Portugal can resist to a more detailed study. The attitudes of some influential individuals of these congregations regarding science and education - mainly the Jesuit Inácio Monteiro and the Oratorian Teodoro de Almeida - are analysed and confronted with the hegemonic attitudes of their respective orders. Finally, we conclude by showing that as education and science became more radical in the Pombalin period, not only the Jesuits but also the Oratorians were excluded from the process of social transformation, which led to the establishment of a secular education and an experimental science teaching.