Texts and Contexts in Ancient and Medieval Science
ISBN: 9789004247321
Platform/Publisher: BRILL / BRILL
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited
Subjects: Politics in the Bible.; Religion and state; Religion and state;

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


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