Medieval Science Research Articles

John Pecham and the Science of Optics (review)

510 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY John Pecham and the Science o[ Optics. Edited with an introduction, English translation, and critical notes by David C. Lindberg. (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1970. Pp. xvii + 300. $15) John Pecham's Perspectiva communis, composed during the 1270's, was the most popular medieval treatise on optics. Relying heavily on Alhazen's (c. 965-1039) Perspectiva , Pecham's work is still a fine introduction both to the influential ideas of Alhazen and to the science of optics in the thirteenth century. Pecham was closely associated with an active circle of thirteenth-century writers on optics--Roger Bacon, Robert Grosseteste, and Witelo--and his Perspectiva communis provides the modern reader with an elementary introduction to the problems, theories, and assumptions of this important school of opticians. The work is concerned with the standard topics considered in medieval optics: the theory of vision, explained in terms of the multiplication of species: the nature and propagation of light; reflection; and refraction. Although Pecham's book is primarily concerned with technical problems in optics, it also bears on questions in theology and philosophy. The science of optics in the middle ages was regarded as bearing directly on certain metaphysical problems, especially the question of the infusion of grace which was a process considered analogous to the multiplication of visible species. In his lucid introduction, Professor Lindberg places Pecham and his Perspectiva communis in their historical context. The text and translation of this work, accompanied by copious scholarly apparatus, should be illuminating to both the historian of medieval science and the general reader in intellectual history who seeks a reliable introduction to medieval optics. MARGARETJ. OSLER Harvey Mudd College Berkeley: Principles of Human Knowledge: Text and Critical Essays. Ed. by C. M. Turbayne. (New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 1970. Pp. xxv + 338. $3.50) Colin Murray Turbayne has long been among the foremost of Berkeley expositors and editors. His introductions to and editions of Berkeley's works for the Library of Liberal Arts are both scholarly and thought provoking. Although other collections of Berkeley criticisms can be found, e.g., Steinkraus', Armstrong's, and that of the University of California philosophy department, Turbayne's volume has the unique advantage of containing the text of The Principles o/ Human Knowledge under his own editorship together with a number of essays on Berkeleianism both old as well as specially written for this publication. The earlier volume edited by D. M. Armstrong and C. B. Martin, a collection of critical essays on both Locke and Berkeley, was put together on the premise that there were not enough good articles about either philosopher to justify separate studies of them. Turbayne remedies this defect then by the inclusion of new essays--one by himself on Berkeley's metaphysical grammar; one by James W. Cornman on theoretical terms, Berkeleian notions, and minds; and one by Paul J. Olscamp on Berkeley's ethical theory--and by the addition of an introduction which emphasizes the uniqueness and richness of Berkeley's philosophical thought as against the mistaken but dominant view that he was but an "ad interim stage in the reductio ad absurdum argument of British empiricism," a view that sees Berkeley as "an inconsistent Hume who, given Locke's original premise, failed to deduce the whole ...

A Geometrical System: Nicole Oresme and the Medieval Geometry of Qualities and Motions . A Treatise on the Uniformity and Difformity of Intensities Known as Tractatus de Configurationibus et Motum . Edited with an introduction, English translation, and commentary by Marshall Clagett. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1968. xiv + 714 pp. + plates. $15. Publications in Medieval Science.

A Geometrical System: <i>Nicole Oresme and the Medieval Geometry of Qualities and Motions</i> . A Treatise on the Uniformity and Difformity of Intensities Known as <i>Tractatus de Configurationibus et Motum</i> . Edited with an introduction, English translation, and commentary by Marshall Clagett. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1968. xiv + 714 pp. + plates. $15. Publications in Medieval Science.

Mechanics in Sixteenth-Century Italy. Selections from Tartaglia, Benedetti, Guido Ubaldo, and Galileo. Translated and annotated by Stillman Drake and I. E. Drabkin. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1969. xii + 432 pp., illus. $12.50. University of Wisconsin Publications in Medieval Science

Mechanics in Sixteenth-Century Italy. Selections from Tartaglia, Benedetti, Guido Ubaldo, and Galileo. Translated and annotated by Stillman Drake and I. E. Drabkin. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1969. xii + 432 pp., illus. $12.50. University of Wisconsin Publications in Medieval Science

Renaissance Physics: Mechanics in Sixteenth-Century Italy . Selections from Tartaglia, Benedetti, Guido Ubaldo, and Galileo. Translated and annotated by Stillman Drake and I. E. Drabkin. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1969. xii + 432 pp., illus. $12.50. University of Wisconsin Publications in Medieval Science.

Renaissance Physics: <i>Mechanics in Sixteenth-Century Italy</i> . Selections from Tartaglia, Benedetti, Guido Ubaldo, and Galileo. Translated and annotated by Stillman Drake and I. E. Drabkin. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1969. xii + 432 pp., illus. $12.50. University of Wisconsin Publications in Medieval Science.

Renaissance Physics: Mechanics in Sixteenth-Century Italy . Selections from Tartaglia, Benedetti, Guido Ubaldo, and Galileo. Translated and annotated by Stillman Drake and I. E. Drabkin. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1969. xii + 432 pp., illus. $12.50. University of Wisconsin Publications in Medieval Science.

Renaissance Physics: <i>Mechanics in Sixteenth-Century Italy</i> . Selections from Tartaglia, Benedetti, Guido Ubaldo, and Galileo. Translated and annotated by Stillman Drake and I. E. Drabkin. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1969. xii + 432 pp., illus. $12.50. University of Wisconsin Publications in Medieval Science.

The 15th century book in the present collection of the library of seminary in Płock

The kept collection of incunabula is not uniform in terms of their origins. Although this is a small collection, in many ways it is interesting concerning both authors, areas of their knowledge, notes of origin or their binding. The library has in total twelve bibliographical positions in ten volumes. They are the work of workshops located in four urban centres: Venice, Cologne, Strasbourg and Augsburg. All of the collection of books are concentrated around four major groups: Scripture, Theology, law and philosophy. The authors of those works were the most prominent representatives of medieval science. Part of the incunabula’s cover are from the period of the book’s print (turn of fifteenth and sixteenth century), part of them are from the later period.

Thomism and Modern Science: Relationships Past, Present, and Future

THOMISM AND MODERN SCIENCE: RELATIONSHIPS PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE T HE IMPORTANCE of science and technology in the modern world is generally recognized by the Christian community. The Second Vatican Council, in fact, singled them out as dominant factors in our civilization, factors that are most responsible for the changing thought patterns of the twentieth century. The Council Fathers pointed to " the mathematical and natural sciences " as having a profound impact " in the cultural sphere and on modes of thought." 1 The life sciences and the social sciences, they acknowledged, are contributing also to the intellectual revolution that characterizes our age. Just as the Council of Trent over four centuries ago warned Catholics of theological innovations that could undermine their faith, so, in a more positive spirit, the Second Vatican Council directs attention to secular transformations to which the Church must adjust if she is to carry out her mission in the modern world. As a consequence of the Council's teaching, those charged with fostering the intellectual life within the Church are encouraged to take a positive attitude toward scientific disciplines . And, since so much of the Church's intellectual life is associated with scholasticism, and with Thomism in particular, the opportunity is thereby provided to examine anew the relationships between Thomism and modern science. The aim of such an examination, of course, is to chart a program for the future. Such a charting presupposes a knowledge of the present situation, but even more it presupposes a correct understanding of what has happened in the past. Thomism has existed for close to seven hundred years, and modern science has a history of about half that span. If it is difficult to back 1 The Pastoral Constitution, Gaudium et Spes, on the Church in the Modern World, Preface, No. 5. 67 68 WILLIAM A. WALLACE off and study the present situation, it is relatively simple to view the past, to see there what has been good and what bad in the relationships between Thomism and science, and from this to make plans for the future. THE MEDIEVAL PAST The early history of this relationship, that before the rise of modern science in the early seventeenth century, does not require lengthy exposition. Because of the Aristotelian thought context in which medieval science was located, both St. Thomas and his teacher, St. Albert the Great, took an active interest in, and wrote competently on, topics that were to interest the precursors of modern science. For example, they discussed motion and the conceptual foundations of what was later to become the science of mechanics; 2 they evaluated the astronomical theories of their time; 3 they had distinctive views on the structure of matter that went far beyond those of their contemporaries .4 Thomistic science, as practiced by St. Thomas and 2 St. Albert, for example, is usually cited for his use of th~ terms f!uxus formae and forma f!uens to characterize the diverse ways of viewing the entitative status of motion in general, and of local motion in particular. This distinction, taken up in the fourteenth century by nominalists and realists, became a fruitful source of discussion from which the new science of mechanics, in both its kinematical and dynamical aspects, was to emerge. See Anneliese Maier, Die Vorliiufer Galileis im 14. Jahrhundert (Roma: 1949), pp. 11-16. Similarly, St. Thomas is singled out for attention, because of his teaching, contrary to Aristotle and Averroes, that motion through a void would not be instantaneous, thus indirectly influencing the development of a concept of inertial resistance to motion among later thinkers such as Nicole Oresme. See A. Maier, Zwischen Philosophie und Mechanik (Roma: 1958)' pp. 226, 246, 257, 266-279. 3 For St. Thomas's critical evaluation of medieval astronomical theories, see Thomas Litt, O.C.S.O., Les Corps Celestes dans l'univers de saint Thomas d'Aquin. Philosophes Medievaux, Tome VII (Louvain/Paris: 1963); also W. A. Wallace, 0. P., Cosmogony. Vol. X of St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae (New York/ London: 1967), English translation, with notes and appendices on Thomas's science. • St. Albert, with unusual foresight, endorsed the atoms of Democritus as providing an insight into the structure...

The Medical Formulary or Aqrabadhin of Al-Kindi. Translated with a study of its materia medica, by Martin Levey, (Publications in Medieval Science), Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin Press, 1966, pp. xiii, 410,$8.50.

The Medical Formulary or Aqrabadhin of Al-Kindi. Translated with a study of its materia medica, by Martin Levey, (Publications in Medieval Science), Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin Press, 1966, pp. xiii, 410,$8.50.

The Geographical Lore of the Time of the Crusades: A Study in the History of Medieval Science and Tradition in Western Europe

The Geographical Lore of the Time of the Crusades: A Study in the History of Medieval Science and Tradition in Western Europe

Ancient and Medieval Science: Vol I. A History of Science.

The history of science represents a fastgrowing discipline. Unfortunately, the areas of science are fragmented and are not comprehensively surveyed. This volume is the first of a four-volume series which will examine the entire history of science. The purpose of these volumes is to demonstrate the common bond between the growth of science and the cultural life of mankind. This monumental work was originally published in French, and it has now been translated into English. This volume covers the period from the earliest millenia to the Middle Ages. The remarkable scientific contributions of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Israel, India, and China are succinctly described and compared. This exciting period is graphically re-created. The magnificent achievements of Greece and its brilliant development are extinguished by the barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire. Pre-Columbia America, Islamic conquests, medieval China, India, Byzantium, and the Christian West suddenly illuminated the dark abyss which followed the

Ancient and Medieval Science: Vol 1. A History of Science.

When Spinoza wrote, "Nature abhors a vacuum," he may have thought he was enunciating a fundamental law of physics instead of coining a happy phrase to be employed in a variety of situations. The passing of George Sarton in 1956 brought his monumental<i>Introduction to the History of Science</i>to an abrupt end at the second half of the 14th century. Sarton was a man of extraordinary linguistic accomplishments and of even more remarkable competence in many divergent intellectual fields, ranging from theology to physics. There seemed no heir apparent capable of continuing the field beyond the 14th century or of keeping his masterpiece abreast of the constant accretions to our knowledge. The above work seems to have resolved our doubts and misgivings and is of such excellence that Prof I. Bernard Cohen states flatly, "This is such a superb job that it will be many, many years before anything

Science in the History of Civilization

Ancient and Medieval Science from Prehistory to A.D. 1450 Edited and with a General Preface by Rene Taton. Translated by A. J. Pomerans. (A General History of the Sciences.) Pp. xvi + 552 + 48 plates. (London: Thames and Hudson, Ltd., 1963.) 126s.

Ancient and Medieval Science

Ancient and Medieval Science

Albert the Great—new mathematician of the middle ages?

There is an Alfred the Great, tenth-century scholar and king of England, and an Albert the Great, thirteenth-century scientist and Dominican friar. It is interesting to note that both are giving historians of medieval mathematics and science a rough time deciding whether or not they were authors of commentaries on Euclid.

Physiognomy and Chaucer's Summoner and Alisoun

Chaucer's character descriptions contain details from the medieval science of physiognomy which create a stratum of meaning hidden to the modern reader. Curry and others have pointed out a number of these details; for instance, the significance of the physical traits ascribed to the Pardoner; the very different implication of those assigned to the Miller; the Wife of Bath's ‘gat-tothedness.’ in knowledge of physiognomy was widespread in the Middle Ages, Chaucer's contemporaries presumably recognized not only the details which modern scholars have identified but quite possibly many more also.

The Science of Mechanics in the Middle Ages. By &lt;italic&gt;Marshall Clagett&lt;/italic&gt;. [University of Wisconsin Publications in Medieval Science, Number 4.] (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. 1959. Pp. xxix, 711. $8.00.)

The Science of Mechanics in the Middle Ages. By Marshall Clagett. [University of Wisconsin Publications in Medieval Science, Number 4.] (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. 1959. Pp. xxix, 711. $8.00.) Get access The Science of Mechanics in the Middle Ages. By Clagett Marshall. [University of Wisconsin Publications in Medieval Science, Number 4.] (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. 1959. Pp. xxix, 711. $8.00.) A. C. Crombie A. C. Crombie Princeton University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Historical Review, Volume 66, Issue 1, October 1960, Pages 121–122, https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/66.1.121 Published: 01 October 1960

The Impact of Archimedes on Medieval Science

THE importance of the role played by Archimedes in the history of science can scarcely be exaggerated. He was emulated and admired in his own day and at successive periods in later times. His name appears on the pages of the works of the great figures who fashioned the beginnings of modern mechanics. For example, Galileo owed a not inconsiderable debt to Archimedes -both direct and indirect. Galileo mentions Archimedes by actual count over one hundred times and in almost Homeric hyperbole, using such expressions as suprahumanus Archimedes, inimitabilis Archimedes, divinissimus Archimedes, and so on. Archimedes' significance for these founders of early modern science lay in the use of mathematics in the treatment of physical problems, as well as in the originality and fertility of his mathematical techniques. But all of this is well known. Perhaps less well known is the role played by Archimedes in the middle ages. The problem of the medieval Archimedes is a classic one in the transmission of Greek learning. In some ways it has an advantage for study over other similar problems of transmission, since one is not overwhelmed by the abundance of materials as in the case of Euclid, or even more so in the case of Aristotle. That is to say, one has hopes both of defining the limits of the investigation and of presenting a substantially complete solution of the problem. The basic problem of the impact of Archimedes on medieval science can be subdivided into three questions: (1) How much of the corpus of Archimedes' writings in their actual form -or some closely modified state -came directly into Latin? (2) How much of Archimedes' methods and results was made available by translations from the Arabic or Greek of works which were influenced (but not so directly) by Archimedes? (3) What use was made by medieval authors of the works and ideas available in Latin translation? While I am preparing in detailed fashion the answers to these questions in a work, Archimedes in the Middle Ages, I think it possible in short compass to give the highlights of the answers as I conceive them. Before answering the questions, two short observations ought to be made. The first concerns the temporal limits of the problem the twelfth to fifteenth centuries. The latter terminus is arbitrary, the former is set by the state of

The Appreciation of Ancient and Medieval Science during the Renaissance (1450-1600). George Sarton

<i>The Appreciation of Ancient and Medieval Science during the Renaissance (1450-1600)</i>. George Sarton

George Sarton: historian of medieval science.

Previous articleNext article No AccessGeorge Sarton: Historian of Medieval ScienceMarshall ClagettMarshall Clagett Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Isis Volume 48, Number 3Sep., 1957The George Sarton Memorial Issue Publication of the History of Science Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/348572 Views: 3Total views on this site Copyright 1957 History of Science Society, Inc.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Notes &amp; Correspondence

Previous articleNext article No AccessNotes & CorrespondenceMarshall Clagett, Gerald Gruman, Maurice Daumas, and Harry WoolfMarshall Clagett Search for more articles by this author , Gerald Gruman Search for more articles by this author , Maurice Daumas Search for more articles by this author , and Harry Woolf Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Isis Volume 48, Number 2Jun., 1957 Publication of the History of Science Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/348563 Views: 1Total views on this site Citations: 1Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1957 History of Science Society, Inc.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article: Marshall Clagett The Impact of Archimedes on Medieval Science, Isis 50, no.44 (Oct 2015): 419–429.https://doi.org/10.1086/348797