ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I want to address Boyle’s interest in casuistry, focusing particularly on a group of casuistical treatises specially written for him in the early 1680s by the divine Thomas Barlow. Through an examination of the liaison between the two men, I hope to explore certain broader issues concerning the intellectual and mental functions that casuistry served for Boyle – what he may have got out of it, how much help a casuist like Barlow was able to give him, and the extent to which such casuistical advice influenced Boyle’s scientific and philosophical activity, as against serving a purely pastoral function in relation to his emotional and spiritual life. I hope that this case study may stimulate broader reflection on the significance of casuistry in the intellectual and cultural history of the period.
