Global Perspectives on the History of Natural Philosophy – serie

Through an examination of the Opus maius, Roger Bacon’s great scientific work of 1267, this book offers insight into Bacon’s understanding of the role of science in society and the study and practice of science in the later Middle Ages.Written at the request of Pope Clement IV (d. 1268), the Opus maius contains English Franciscan and polymath Roger Bacon’s plans for educational and ecclesiastical reform through the study of arts and sciences, which Bacon saw as having been neglected in the curricula of the major European universities. In writing the Opus maius, Bacon wanted to demonstrate that not only were the sciences a solid foundation for learning theology, but they could also improve society and help mankind attain salvation. This volume contains nine essays on the sciences Bacon thought were most important in this scheme, including optics, mathematics, astronomy, alchemy, medicine, and experimental science. Each provides a focused examination of the individual sciences, demonstrating how Bacon understood and practised them, as well as how he envisioned they would fit together into his larger programme of scientific reform.This thought-provoking collection will be a valuable resource to historians of science, medicine, and philosophy, as well as those in medieval and premodern studies.

Dante’s Visions: Crossing Sights on Natural Philosophy, Theory of Vision, and Medicine in the Divine Comedy and Beyond offers a fascinating insight into Dante’s engagement with the science of his time, particularly with visual perception and neurological disorders. The relationship between the soul and the body and the bond between human beings and their natural environment were significant areas of interest in the medieval world. In Dante’s Divine Comedy, as well as in his Vita Nuova and Convivio, these connections are enhanced to the fullest, expressing feelings and sensations, pain and ecstasy, and physical and spiritual passions under exceptional psychological and environmental stimuli.Based on the research of a multidisciplinary group of scholars – including experts in Dante, the culture and history of medieval literature and philosophy, historians of science, neuroscientists, and specialists in vision and visual illusions – this book explores the poet’s psychophysical descriptions of sense perception, the theory of vision, optical illusions and deceptions of sight, neurological phenomena, and the anatomy and physiology of the human nervous system. It highlights the Aristotelian sources of his scientific culture and the influence of the Arabic sciences on their dissemination in the Western world.In addition to illustrating the cultural background of a poetic genius, with specific reference to the rich scientific reflections in Italy at Dante’s time, this book brings out the many opportunities for future research at the intersection of science and literature in the past.

Colonial Scholasticism: Interpreting Nature, Society, and Philosophy in Spanish America explores the enduring influence of scholasticism beyond Europe, tracing its evolution in the intellectual and educational institutions of colonial Latin America.Far from being a mere extension of European thought, colonial scholasticism developed in response to new cultural, political, and scientific contexts, engaging with both local realities and global philosophical traditions. This volume examines the emergence and adaptation of scholastic philosophy in Spanish America, from the establishment of schools and universities to the development of novel approaches to law, science, and theology. It explores how the works of Aristotle and his ancient and medieval followers continued to shape intellectual discourse in the American world. At the same time, it highlights how these traditions were reinterpreted in dialogue with Indigenous knowledge, social structures, and the challenges posed by colonial rule. Bringing together contributions from leading scholars in the field, Colonial Scholasticism sheds light on a neglected chapter in the history of Western philosophy. It challenges Eurocentric periodisations that confine scholasticism to the Middle Ages and demonstrates its continued relevance in shaping philosophical and scientific thought well into early modernity.This book is an essential resource for historians of philosophy, scholars of Latin American intellectual history, and all those interested in the global dimensions of scholasticism.

Theories of Colour from Democritus to Descartes investigates issues of the ontological status and perception of colours, such as: What is the nature of colours? Do they exist independently of the subjects who perceive them? And if so, how are they generated and how do they differ from one another? These are some of the questions raised by philosophers, but what has been lacking is an account of the various theories about colours through different periods of the history of philosophy.Exploring philosophical debates on the nature and perception of colours from a historical perspective, this book presents how different theories from Antiquity through the Middle Ages to the early modern era explain the nature of colours, their generation, and the way they are perceived. Twelve eminent historians of philosophy analyse the theories of colours prevailing at critical points in the history of Western philosophy, from its beginnings with Democritus to Descartes and the early modern period.This book will appeal to students and scholars working on the history of philosophy (ancient, medieval, Arabic and Latin, and early modern) as well as those interested in contemporary philosophy: philosophy of the mind, philosophy of perception, phenomenology, metaphysics, and neurosciences. A broader audience may also include researchers in psychology, cultural history, and the history of art.

At the turn of the first millennium, scientific and philosophical knowledge was far from dormant. Arithmetic, with its diverse calculation techniques and number theory, served as a bridge to philosophy, theology, and the study of the physical world. Even something as simple as a series of multiplication tables could unlock a profound knowledge of both the divine realm and natural phenomena. Such is the case with Abbo of Fleury’s Commentary on the Calculus.Mathematics and Philosophy at the Turn of the First Millennium sheds light on Abbo’s original philosophical system anchored in two central doctrines, which serve as a compass to navigate it: the theory of unity (henology) and the theory of composition. Yet, the Commentary on the Calculus covers much more. The present study, thus, explores an eclectic range of topics – from water clocks to barleycorns, constellations to human voice, synodic month to the human lifespan, and numbers to God. Abbo’s work is an ambitious attempt to tie together the study of both the visible and invisible realms, what can be measured and what cannot, what can be quantified and what exceeds quantification.Scholars and students of the history of philosophy and mathematics will be introduced to a pivotal figure from an often overlooked era. They will be provided with fresh insights into the spread of Neopythagorean doctrines in the early Middle Ages, as they learn how these ideas were transmitted through arithmetic texts and harmonised with theology and natural philosophy. They will also get to know the medieval fraction system and calculus practices.

This book is a detailed exploration of the Hispanic intellectual context and the different Aristotelian traditions that prevailed until the 16th century. Through a review and contextualisation of Aristotelian thinkers and texts, it argues that a unique Aristotelian tradition was formed in New Spain.The characteristic differences of Novohispanic Aristotelianism are a consequence of five factors: contact with the autochthonous cultures of America, the impact of the colonial organisation, the influence of the Salamanca humanist tradition, the presence of the Italian Aristotelianism of Renaissance translators in the university curricula and in the intellectual polemics of the time, and a peculiar assimilation of primitive and Old Testament Christianity in relation to indigenous people. This book analyses the works of Alonso de la Veracruz, Bartolomé de las Casas, Bernardino de Sahagún, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, and Francisco Xavier Clavijero, reconsidering them in light of the history of ideas in New Spain and the contributions of Byzantine translators. It also offers a reflection on the problem of addressing Mexican colonial sources.This volume will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate philosophy students, as well as to researchers focused on Aristotle, Renaissance philosophy, or Latin American studies.

Ten Follies: A Journey Around the World in Ten Forms of Madness focuses on a critical question in the history of psychiatry: to what extent does psychopathology describe phenomena that exist before or beyond their description? Marco Innamorati probes the view that any description of a psychopathological phenomenon is, to a significant extent, the result of a construction by the subject describing it or a co-construction made by the clinician and the patient—a perspective also known as the “constructivist” approach.Starting from the work of the philosopher and historian of science Ian Hacking, who proposed the concept of “transient mental illness”, i.e., an “illness that appears at a given time, in a given place, and then disappears” (Hacking, 1998), Innamorati explores some forms of madness that seem to arise in a particular environment and specific historical circumstances, developing through a kind of epidemic and then disappearing almost definitively. The author evaluates strengths and weaknesses of the “constructivist” approach, by juxtaposing evolving hermeneutical questions to cultural factors. From hysteria to demonic possession, from the “mad travellers” to arctic shamanism, until the recent mushrooming of the hikikomori phenomenon,Ten Follies is an unconventional “journey around the world in ten forms of madness” which takes the reader through astonishing stories of suffering and healing. Against the trend of mapping a single globalised discourse of “folly”, this book embraces a kind of philosophical perspectivism (“ten follies”) which echoes the contemporary cultural transformation of the many narratives of “madness”.

Personal physician of the emperors Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, and Septimius Severus, Galen was a multi-faceted intellectual and his extensive writings constitute, by far, the largest surviving corpus of any ancient author. This immense corpus is still not fully explored and continues to surprise scholars and to offer the possibility of new discoveries.This volume provides the first comprehensive analysis of his fierce critique of atomism, which is the most emblematic and disputed example of his polemical accounts, and demonstrates his reliability. It offers a close analysis of Galen’s account on atomism, contributing to the current debate on his role as a source on previous and contemporary philosophical and scientific thought, shedding new light on the still little-known relationship between Epicureanism and medicine. It additionally offers a new perspective on the debated question of the philosophical background of Asclepiades’ medical corpuscularism.Galen on the Atomists will appeal to students and scholars alike in ancient philosophy, classics, and history of ideas, as well as those studying history of science and medicine.