The Beginnings of Western Science
The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, Prehistory to A.D. 1450, Second Edition
9780226482057
9780226482040
The Beginnings of Western Science
The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, Prehistory to A.D. 1450, Second Edition
When it was first published in 1992, The Beginnings of Western Science was lauded as the first successful attempt ever to present a unified account of both ancient and medieval science in a single volume. Chronicling the development of scientific ideas, practices, and institutions from pre-Socratic Greek philosophy to late-Medieval scholasticism, David C. Lindberg surveyed all the most important themes in the history of science, including developments in cosmology, astronomy, mechanics, optics, alchemy, natural history, and medicine. In addition, he offered an illuminating account of the transmission of Greek science to medieval Islam and subsequently to medieval Europe.
The Beginnings of Western Science was, and remains, a landmark in the history of science, shaping the way students and scholars understand these critically formative periods of scientific development. It reemerges here in a second edition that includes revisions on nearly every page, as well as several sections that have been completely rewritten. For example, the section on Islamic science has been thoroughly retooled to reveal the magnitude and sophistication of medieval Muslim scientific achievement. And the book now reflects a sharper awareness of the importance of Mesopotamian science for the development of Greek astronomy. In all, the second edition of The Beginnings of Western Science captures the current state of our understanding of more than two millennia of science and promises to continue to inspire both students and general readers.
480 pages | 76 halftones, 36 line drawings, 6 maps, 1 table | 6 x 9 | © 2008
History: European History
Physical Sciences: History and Philosophy of Physical Sciences
Reviews
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
1. SCIENCE BEFORE THE GREEKS
What Is Science?
Prehistoric Attitudes toward Nature
The Beginnings of Science in Egypt and Mesopotamia
2. THE GREEKS AND THE COSMOS
The World of Homer and Hesiod
The First Greek Philosophers
The Milesians and the Question of Underlying Reality
The Question of Change
The Problem of Knowledge
Plato’s World of Forms
Plato’s Cosmology
The Achievement of Early Greek Philosophy
3. ARISTOTLE’S PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE
Life and Works
Metaphysics and Epistemology
Nature and Change
Cosmology
Motion, Terrestrial and Celestial
Aristotle as a Biologist
Aristotle’s Achievement
4. HELLENISTIC NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
Schools and Education
The Lyceum after Aristotle
Epicureans and Stoics
5. THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES IN ANTIQUITY
The Application of Mathematics to Nature
Greek Mathematics
Early Greek Astronomy
Cosmological Developments
Hellenistic Planetary Astronomy
The Science of Optics
The Science of Weights
6. GREEK AND ROMAN MEDICINE
Early Greek Medicine
Hippocratic Medicine
Hellenistic Anatomy and Physiology
Hellenistic Medical Sects
Galen and the Culmination of Hellenistic Medicine
7. ROMAN AND EARLY MEDIEVAL SCIENCE
Greeks and Romans
Popularizers and Encyclopedists
Translations
The Role of Christianity
Roman and Early Medieval Education
Two Early Medieval Natural Philosophers
Learning and Science in the Greek East
8. ISLAMIC SCIENCE
The Eastward Diffusion of Greek Science
The Birth, Expansion, and Hellenization of Islam
Translation of Greek Science into Arabic
Islamic Reception and Appropriation of Greek Science
The Islamic Scientific Achievement
The Fate of Islamic Science
9. THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING IN THE WEST
The Middle Ages
Carolingian Reforms
The Schools of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
Natural Philosophy in the Twelfth-Century Schools
The Translation Movement
The Rise of Universities
10. THE RECOVERY AND ASSIMILATION OF GREEK AND ISLAMIC SCIENCE
The New Learning
Aristotle in the University Curriculum
Points of Conflict
Resolution: Science as Handmaiden
Radical Aristotelianism and the Condemnations of 1270
and 1277
The Relations of Philosophy and Theology after 1277
11. THE MEDIEVAL COSMOS
The Structure of the Cosmos
Mathematical Astronomy
Astrology
The Surface of the Earth
12. The Physics of the Sublunar Region
Matter, Form, and Substance
Combination and Mixture
Alchemy
Change and Motion
The Nature of Motion
Mathematical Description of Motion
The Dynamics of Local Motion
Quantification of Dynamics
The Science of Optics
13. MEDIEVAL MEDICINE AND NATURAL HISTORY
The Medical Tradition of the Early Middle Ages
The Transformation of Western Medicine
Medical Practitioners
Medicine in the Universities
Disease, Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Therapy
Anatomy and Surgery
Development of the Hospital
Natural History
14. THE LEGACY OF ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL SCIENCE
The Continuity Question
Candidates for Revolutionary Status
The Scientific Revolution
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Preface
1. SCIENCE BEFORE THE GREEKS
What Is Science?
Prehistoric Attitudes toward Nature
The Beginnings of Science in Egypt and Mesopotamia
2. THE GREEKS AND THE COSMOS
The World of Homer and Hesiod
The First Greek Philosophers
The Milesians and the Question of Underlying Reality
The Question of Change
The Problem of Knowledge
Plato’s World of Forms
Plato’s Cosmology
The Achievement of Early Greek Philosophy
3. ARISTOTLE’S PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE
Life and Works
Metaphysics and Epistemology
Nature and Change
Cosmology
Motion, Terrestrial and Celestial
Aristotle as a Biologist
Aristotle’s Achievement
4. HELLENISTIC NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
Schools and Education
The Lyceum after Aristotle
Epicureans and Stoics
5. THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES IN ANTIQUITY
The Application of Mathematics to Nature
Greek Mathematics
Early Greek Astronomy
Cosmological Developments
Hellenistic Planetary Astronomy
The Science of Optics
The Science of Weights
6. GREEK AND ROMAN MEDICINE
Early Greek Medicine
Hippocratic Medicine
Hellenistic Anatomy and Physiology
Hellenistic Medical Sects
Galen and the Culmination of Hellenistic Medicine
7. ROMAN AND EARLY MEDIEVAL SCIENCE
Greeks and Romans
Popularizers and Encyclopedists
Translations
The Role of Christianity
Roman and Early Medieval Education
Two Early Medieval Natural Philosophers
Learning and Science in the Greek East
8. ISLAMIC SCIENCE
The Eastward Diffusion of Greek Science
The Birth, Expansion, and Hellenization of Islam
Translation of Greek Science into Arabic
Islamic Reception and Appropriation of Greek Science
The Islamic Scientific Achievement
The Fate of Islamic Science
9. THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING IN THE WEST
The Middle Ages
Carolingian Reforms
The Schools of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
Natural Philosophy in the Twelfth-Century Schools
The Translation Movement
The Rise of Universities
10. THE RECOVERY AND ASSIMILATION OF GREEK AND ISLAMIC SCIENCE
The New Learning
Aristotle in the University Curriculum
Points of Conflict
Resolution: Science as Handmaiden
Radical Aristotelianism and the Condemnations of 1270
and 1277
The Relations of Philosophy and Theology after 1277
11. THE MEDIEVAL COSMOS
The Structure of the Cosmos
Mathematical Astronomy
Astrology
The Surface of the Earth
12. The Physics of the Sublunar Region
Matter, Form, and Substance
Combination and Mixture
Alchemy
Change and Motion
The Nature of Motion
Mathematical Description of Motion
The Dynamics of Local Motion
Quantification of Dynamics
The Science of Optics
13. MEDIEVAL MEDICINE AND NATURAL HISTORY
The Medical Tradition of the Early Middle Ages
The Transformation of Western Medicine
Medical Practitioners
Medicine in the Universities
Disease, Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Therapy
Anatomy and Surgery
Development of the Hospital
Natural History
14. THE LEGACY OF ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL SCIENCE
The Continuity Question
Candidates for Revolutionary Status
The Scientific Revolution
Notes
Bibliography
Index