Physical science in the Middle Ages / Edward Grant.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Grant, Edward, 1926-2020

Contributor:

Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Spangenburg, Ray, 1939- History of science

History of science

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science, Medieval.

Physical Description:

xi, 128 pages ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1977.

Summary:

This concise introduction to the history of physical science in the Middle Ages begins with a description of the feeble state of early medieval science and its revitalization during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, as evidenced by the explosion of knowledge represented by extensive translations of Greek and Arabic treatises. The content and concepts that came to govern science from the late twelfth century onwards were powerfully shaped and dominated by the science and philosophy of Aristotle. It is, therefore, by focussing attention on problems and controversies associated with Aristotelian science that the reader is introduced to the significant scientific developments and interpretations formulated in the later Middle Ages. The concluding chapter presents a new interpretation of the medieval failure to abandon the physics and cosmology of Aristotle and explains why, despite serious criticisms, they were not generally repudiated during this period. A detailed critical bibliography completes the work.

Contents:

I. The State of Science from 500 A.D. to 1000 A.D. 1

II. The Beginning of the Beginning and the Age of Translation, 1000 A.D. to 1200 A.D. 13

III. The Medieval University and the Impact of Aristotelian Thought 20

IV. The Physics of Motion 36

V. Earth, Heavens, and Beyond 60.

Notes:

Reprint of the 1971 ed. published by Wiley, New York, in series: Wiley history of science series.

Includes index.

Bibliography: pages 91-115.

ISBN:

0521218624 :

0521292948

OCLC:

3344994