Lines of Thought

Branching Diagrams and the Medieval Mind

AvAyelet Even-Ezra

Inbunden, Engelska, 2021

428 kr

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Beskrivning

We think with objects—we conduct our lives surrounded by external devices that help us recall information, calculate, plan, design, make decisions, articulate ideas, and organize the chaos that fills our heads. Medieval scholars learned to think with their pages in a peculiar way: drawing hundreds of tree diagrams. Lines of Thought is the first book to investigate this prevalent but poorly studied notational habit, analyzing the practice from linguistic and cognitive perspectives and studying its application across theology, philosophy, law, and medicine.These diagrams not only allow a glimpse into the thinking practices of the past but also constitute a chapter in the history of how people learned to rely on external devices—from stone to parchment to slide rules to smartphones—for recording, storing, and processing information. Beautifully illustrated throughout with previously unstudied and unedited diagrams, Lines of Thought is a historical overview of an important cognitive habit, providing a new window into the world of medieval scholars and their patterns of thinking.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2021-04-16
Mått:210 x 279 x 28 mm
Vikt:993 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:272
Förlag:The University of Chicago Press
ISBN:9780226743080

Utforska kategorier

Historia inom Historia och arkeologi

Mer om författaren

Ayelet Even-Ezra is a senior lecturer in the History Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is the author of Ecstasy in the Classroom: Trance, Self, and the Academic Profession in Medieval Paris and her articles have appeared in Harvard Theological Review, Traditio, and the Journal of Ecclesiastical History, among many other publications.

Recensioner i media

“[Even-Ezra] parses the parsing of long-gone readers with depth and relish, emerging from the thicket with a judicious and companionable discussion of HTs and their ramifications (pun essential) for our understanding of how reading, thinking, pen work, and the book medium may be inextricably entwined . . . . From cover to close, the argument of the book is fused with its design. Should an engaged reader annotate their copy with words, lines, or schemata, they would actively extend the lively subject of this welcome work.”

Innehållsförteckning

IntroductionPart I1 The Form: Chronological, Linguistic, and Cognitive Perspectives 1.1 Form: A Chronological Perspective1.2 Form: A Linguistic Perspective1.3 Form: A Cognitive Perspective2 The Habit: On What, Where, Who, When, and How Often 2.1 Diagramming as a Form of Marginal Annotation2.2 Parasitic, Embedded, and Tapestry Forms2.3 Beyond the Classroom: French and Hebrew2.4 ConclusionPart II3 Structures of Concepts: Distinctions 3.1 Natural Philosophy, Metaphysics, Ethics 3.2 Biblical Distinctions3.3 Canon and Civil Law 3.4 Medicine3.5 Conclusion4 Structures of Language 4.1 Verse and Rhyme4.2 Letter Writing (Ars Dictaminis)4.3 Grammar5 Structure of Texts 5.1 Orientation and Composition: Theological Questions5.2 Analysis: Argument5.3 Analysis: Biblical Narrative5.4 What HT Diagramming Tells Us about the Scholastic Perception of Texts: Authors as Architects, Texts as Wisely Made Constructions 5.5 Coda: Back to the Future—Parallels to the Divisio Textus in Twentieth-Century Narrative AnalysesAppendix: Latin and English Surface Text of the Book of Job Parsed and Numbered (Translation Follows the English Standard Version)EpilogueAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex