Isis 108 (3):629-635 (
2017)
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Abstract
This essay discusses three authors from the early seventeenth century (Galileo,
Descartes, and Van Helmont) and the reasons that guided their decisions to write
occasionally in their respective vernacular languages even though Latin remained the
accepted language for learned communication. From their writings we can see that
their choices were social, political, and always of high importance. The choice of language
of these multilingual authors conveyed a message that was sometimes implicit,
sometimes explicit. Their usage of both Latin and vernacular proved, on the one hand,
their place in the international learned community and, on the other hand, their interest
and investment in changing the educational system.