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The aeolipile as experimental model in early modern natural philosophy
Full text linkWhat causes winds was regarded as one of the most difficult questions of early modern natural philosophy. Vitruvius, the ancient Roman architectural author, put forth an alternative to Aristotle's theory by likening the generation of wind to the actions of the aeolipile, which he believed made artificial winds. As Vitruvius's work proliferated during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, numerous natural philosophers, including Descartes, used the aeolipile as a model for nature. Yet, interpretations of Vitruvius's text and of the relation of the aeolipile to natural winds varied according to definitions and conceptions of air, wind, rarefaction, condensation, and vapor
Printed Medical Commentaries and Authenticity: The Case of De Alimento
No full textIn the first years of the sixteenth century the De alimento, an Hippocratic treatise on nutrition, was considered inauthentic and had virtually no role in university instruction or the commentary tradition. In the middle of the sixteenth century, three prominent physicians—Francisco Vallés, Antonio Fracanzano, and Girolamo Cardano—wrote commentaries on the De alimento in which they claimed that Hippocrates was the true author of this work. They based their claims on philological evidence, such as style, language, and citations from the Galenic corpus. Their philological judgments, however, were colored by their understanding of medicine. Because these three physicians supported the dietetic method presented in the De alimento, they deemed this treatise to be useful and worthy of Hippocrates, the supposed father of medicine. Thus their philological evidence was influenced by the practical concerns of medicine. As a result, during the late Renaissance the work was widely considered to be authentic
Francis Bacon, José de Acosta, and Traditions of Natural Histories of Winds
No full textIt is well attested that Francis Bacon considered his History of Winds to be an exemplar, but what lessons should be taken from its example have been subject to debate. Instead of looking at this work as a mere model for the fusion of natural history and natural philosophy, it is also possible to see Bacon as trying to provide tentative solutions to outstanding questions regarding the wind, a topic that was deeply scrutinized during the early modern period. An examination of Bacon’s provisional concluding rules reveals deep correspondences with earlier works, such as José de Acosta’s Natural and Moral History of the Indies, that revised classical understandings of the wind based on experience, experiments, and accounts of travels beyond Europe. Understanding the History of Winds as a genuine attempt to solve outstanding questions about the wind uncovers its debt to earlier traditions, including those related to Renaissance natural history, and shows it’s influence in relation to specific theories of the wind beyond its call for methodological reform
The ends of weather: Teleology in renaissance meteorology
Full text linkRenaissance natural philosophers believed that meteorological phenomena were imperfect mixtures that lacked their own essences or substantial forms. This contention, along with the lack of any significant discussion of teleology in Aristotle's Meteorology, left Renaissance natural philosophers with several options in discussions of the final causes of weather. Some, particularly Italian scholars, contended that there were no final causes for meteorological events. In contrast, Pietro Pomponazzi argued that, while meteorological phenomena were accidental, they were purposeful as part of God's ordering of the universe, even though humans are unable to understand these purposes. Many Lutheran scholars believed that these ends could be known, arguing that their purpose derived from their being divine signs of the future and God's will
Rethinking Renaissance Averroism∗
No full textThe current historiography on Renaissance Averroism stems from Ernest Renan’s 1852 classic Averroès et l’averroïsme. Using a positivistic conception of the natural antagonism between rational science and religion, Renan’s work concentrated on religiously charged debates. Averroes’ influence, however, was far broader. An analysis of the changes in the depiction of followers of Averroes demonstrates that by the end of the sixteenth century Averroists were labelled as such because of their techniques of interpretation and many of their positions were not considered heretical or religiously dangerous
Renaissance Meteorology: Pomponazzi to Descartes
No full textMeteorological phenomena have intrigued scientists for millennia, a fascination not likely to abate in this age of satellites and supercomputer-generated weather simulations. Craig Martin takes a careful look at how Renaissance scientists analyzed and interpreted rain, wind, meteors, earthquakes, and other weather and its impact on the great thinkers of the scientific revolution. Martin argues that meteorology was crucial to the transformation that took place in science during the early modern period. By examining the conceptual foundations of the subject, Martin links Aristotelian meteorology with the new natural philosophies of the seventeenth century. He argues that because meteorology involved conjecture and observation and forced attention to material and efficient causation, it paralleled developments in the natural philosophies of Descartes and other key figures of the scientific revolution. Although an inherently uncertain endeavor, forecasting the weather was an extremely useful component not just of scientific study, but also of politics, courtly life, and religious doctrine. Martin explores how natural philosophers of the time participated in political and religious controversies by debating the meanings, causes, and purposes of natural disasters and other weather phenomena. Through careful readings of an impressive range of texts, Martin situates the history of meteorology within the larger context of Renaissance and early modern science. The first study on Renaissance theories of weather in five decades, Renaissance Meteorology offers a novel understanding of traditional natural philosophy and its impact on the development of modern science
With aristotelians like these, who needs anti-aristotelians? chymical corpuscular matter theory in Niccolò Cabeo's meteorology
Full text linkNiccolò Cabeo, a Jesuit based in Northern Italy, wrote a massive commentary on Aristotle's Meteorology that was first printed in 1646. The central concepts of this work emerged from the chymical philosophy of his time. Cabeo advocated a corpuscular matter theory that integrated Paracelsian principles and Aristotelian elements. Furthermore, he rejected the application of metaphysics and mathematics to natural philosophy. Instead he promoted experiential and experimental practices, including chymical ones, to investigate what he called the "real physical" world. Cabeo's epistemology sustained his adaptation of Aristotle, whereby substantial forms have no explanatory role, but matter and form are two different kinds of substances that differ with respect to the size of their constituent corpuscles and their forces. Maintaining the need to use Aristotle as a foundation, Cabeo relied on his unique interpretations of the text of the Meteorology in order to demonstrate that his matter theory was not alien to Aristotelianism. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2006
Meteorology for Courtiers and Ladies: Vernacular Aristotelianism in Renaissance Italy
Full text linkSixteenth-century Italian meteorological treatises bridged university-taught Aristotelian natural philosophy to the needs of courtly society. These treatises appealed to the desire for discussions of awe-inducing subjects and practical knowledge among courtiers. Both non-academic elites and university professors wrote vernacular Italian trea- tises and dialogues based on Aristotelian texts and concepts for a courtly audience that included women. Courtiers and professors alike considered Aristotelian natural philosophy, meteorology in particular, to be vibrant and applicable to both the practical and entertainment needs of courts
Francisco Vallés and the renaissance reinterpretation of Aristotle's Meteorologica IV as a medical text
No full textIn this paper I describe the context and goals of Francisco Vallés' In IV librum Meteorologicorum commentaria (1558). Vallés' work stands as a landmark because it interprets a work of Aristotle's natural philosophy specifically for medical doctors and medical theory. Vallés' commentary is representative of new understandings of Galenic-Hippocratic medi-cine that emerged as a result of expanding textual knowledge. These approaches are evident in a number of sixteenth-century commentaries on Meteorologica IV; in particular the works of Pietro Pomponazzi, Lodovico Boccadiferro, Jacob Schegk, and Francesco Vimercati. Vallés' conviction that Meteorologica IV is relevant to medical knowledge depends on his understanding of Aristotle's theory of homeomerous substances and their relation to composite substances. The application of Meteorologica IV to medical topics became commonplace in the following years, and this Aristotelian book became widely known as a bridge between natural philosophy and medicine. © 2003 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden
Dániel Margócsy.Commercial Visions: Science, Trade, and Visual Culture in the Dutch Golden Age
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