Texts and Contexts in Ancient and Medieval Science: Studies on the Occasion of John E. Murdoch's Seventieth Birthday (Brill's Studies in Intellectual History)

These studies respond to the challenge posed twenty years ago by John E. Murdoch, in whose honor they have been assembled: to interpret ancient and medieval mathematical and scientific texts not just as isolated intellectual productions but as responses to particular settings or contexts. Two broad settings are explored here: that of the wider intellectual culture, where relations among mathematics, astronomy, natural philosophy - and also theology, logic and astrology - are shown to have shaped individual texts; and the context of lay society, where institutional structures, patronage, even personal relationships impinged upon scientific writing. The volume reinforces the growing recognition that ancient and medieval scientific texts "made a difference" to their authors and audiences and must be understood in relation to topics like disciplinary identity, career advancement, lay interest, and practical applicability. Publications by John E. Murdoch : Edited by Christoph Lüthy, John E. Murdoch and William R. Newman , Late Medieval and Early Modern Corpuscular Matter Theories , ISBN : 978 90 04 11516 3 List of Plates viii List of Contributors ix Editor's Introduction / EDITH D. SYLLA AND MICHAEL R. MCVAUGH xi Publications of John E. Murdoch xxviii I. Eudoxan Astronomy and Aristotelian Holism in the 'Physics' / JEAN DE GROOT 1 II. The Latin Sources of 'Quadrans vetus', and What They Imply for Its Authorship and Date / WILBUR R. KNORR 23 ΙII. Roger Bacon's 'De laudibus mathematicae': A Preliminary Study / GEORGE MOLLAND 68 IV. What Really Happened on 7 March 1277? Bishop Tempier's Condemnation and Its Institutional Context / J. M. M. H. THIJSSEN 84 V. Armengaud Blaise as a Translator of Galen / MICHAEL R. MCVAUGH 115 VI. The Meanings of Natural Diversity: Marco Polo on the 'Division' of the World / KATHARINE PARK 134 VII. Thomas Bradwardine's 'De continuo' and the Structure of Fourteenth-Century Learning / EDITH D. SYLLA 148 VIII. Nicole Oresme, Aristotle's 'On the Heavens', and the Court of Charles V / EDWARD GRANT 187 IX. Charles V, Nicole Oresme, and Christine de Pizan: Unities and Uses of Knowledge in Fourteenth-Century France / JOAN CADDEN 208 X. Academic Consulting in Fifteenth-Century Vienna: The Case of Astrology / MICHAEL H. SHANK 245 XI. Domingo de Soto's 'Laws' of Motion: Text and Context / WILLIAM A. WALLACE 271 ΧII. Art, Nature, and Experiment among Some Aristotelian Alchemists / WILLIAM R. NEWMAN 305 Index Codicum 318 General Index 320 These studies respond to the challenge posed twenty years ago by John E. Murdoch, in whose honor they have been assembled: to interpret ancient and medieval mathematical and scientific texts not just as isolated intellectual productions but as responses to particular settings or contexts. Two broad settings are explored here: that of the wider intellectual culture, where relations among mathematics, astronomy, natural philosophy - and also theology, logic and astrology - are shown to have shaped individual texts; and the context of lay society, where institutional structures, patronage, even personal relationships impinged upon scientific writing. The volume reinforces the growing recognition that ancient and medieval scientific texts "made a difference" to their authors and audiences and must be understood in relation to topics like disciplinary identity, career advancement, lay interest, and practical applicability. Publications by John E. Murdoch : Edited by Christoph Lüthy, John E. Murdoch and William R. Newman , Late Medieval and Early Modern Corpuscular Matter Theories , ISBN : 978 90 04 11516 3 Written in honor of John E. Murdoch's seventieth birthday, the essays collected here focus on the interpretation of ancient and scientific texts not just as isolated intellectual productions but as responses to particular settings or contexts. Edited By Edith Sylla And Michael Mcvaugh. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes.