Abstract

It is usually claimed that, beyond superficial similarities, there exists a substantial difference between the medieval theory of ‘impetus' and Galileo’s theory of ‘impeto’. Despite an obvious terminological resemblance, the meaning of these two terms is so different that they should not hide the epistemological break that happened between the late Middle Ages and the early Modern period. In this talk, I would like to reassess this claim by focusing on the theory of impetus proposed by Luis Coronel, who was active at the turn of the 16th century. The first part of the talk will be devoted to a brief recap of the main differences between medieval and modern theories of the impetus/impeto. Then I will show that Coronel’s theory may be regarded as a missing link between the medieval theories of the impetus and the modern theories of inertia. Finally, I will briefly discuss the possible influence of Coronel’s views on later authors up to Galileo.