Moral geometry in Restoration Ireland: Samuel Foley’s ‘Computatio universalis’ (1684) and the science of colonisation

What is it about?

This article examines 17th-century Church of Ireland bishop Samuel Foley's scientific project for quantifying happiness by reducing it to the systematic, lifelong management of money and time. Reading Foley's project alongside related moral, natural philosophical, and economic writing from the period, it argues that this effort at quantification aimed at preserving a specific kind of Protestant landed elite in Ireland, and thus at advancing the purposes of colonial government.

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Why is it important?

The article contributes to a growing literature on science and empire, while diverging from existing work (including that focused on Ireland) in important ways. First, while many studies look at evidently practical "instruments" of empire, such as cartographic or military technologies, this one concerns an attempt at scientific morality. Second, in contrast to scholarship emphasizing the role of the secular state, this article concerns an amateur "projector" who was also a clergyman. Third, although most examples of "colonial science" targeted indigenous people, resources, or territory, the object of this project was the colonial elite itself.

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