Borrelli Aspects of the Astrolabe

"Architectonica ratio" in tenth- and eleventh-century Europe
1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-3-515-09484-9
Verlag: Franz Steiner
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Deutsch, Englisch, Band 57, 272 Seiten, E-Book-Text

Reihe: Sudhoffs Archiv ? Beihefte

The astrolabe – often quoted as "the earliest computer" – is a mechanical instrument capable of performing astronomical computations. This study offers a new interpretation of its role in the Latin culture of the High Middle Ages, highlighting its epistemological significance. For Latin scholars around the year 1000, the astrolabe became the earliest, non-verbal channel to access and assimilate mathematical knowledge from the Arabic culture, and could be seen as representing a divine 'architectonical rationality' which humans could share in the mathematical experience.
The novel methodology of this work combines the results of historical and philological analyses of manuscripts and material sources with the most recent insights on different kinds of mathematical thinking. Focussing on drawings and text fragments, with a new, detailed analysis of ms. Paris BnF 7412 (11th c.), the study reconstructs the Latin high medieval mathematical experience, its non-verbal modes of communication and its relationship with both practice and philosophy.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Borrelli, Arianna

Fachgebiete

• Mathematik | Informatik Mathematik Mathematik Allgemein Geschichte der Mathematik
• Naturwissenschaften Astronomie Geschichte der Astronomie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;CONTENTS;6
2;LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES;13
3;ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS;15
4;1 INTRODUCTION;17
5;2 MATHEMATICAL AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF THE ASTROLABE;28
6;3 SOURCES AND RESULTS OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH;64
7;4 NON-WRITTEN AND NON-VERBAL MODES OF COMMUNICATION IN THE DIFFUSION OF ASTROLABE KNOWLEDGE;100
8;5 THE PHILOSOPHICAL ASPECTS OF THE ASTROLABE;159
9;6 SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK: THE ASPECTS OF THE ASTROLABE IN TWELFTH-CENTURY EUROPE;215
10;7 APPENDIX A: ELEVENTH- AND TWELFTH-CENTURY MANUSCRIPTS CONTAINING ASTROLABE TEXTS AND/OR DRAWINGS;227
11;8 APPENDIX B: THIRTEENTH-, FOURTEENTH-, AND FIFTEENTH-CENTURY MANUSCRIPTS CONTAINING ELEVENTH- AND TWELFTH-CENTURY ASTROLABE TEXTS;234
12;9 APPENDIX C: ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS WORK TO INDICATE ELEVENTH-CENTURY ASTROLABE-RELATED TEXTS AND DRAWINGS;239
13;10 APPENDIX D: MOST DIFFUSED TWELFTH-CENTURY ASTROLABE TREATISES;241
14;11 APPENDIX E: CONTENTS OF THE MANUSCRIPT PARIS, BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE DE FRANCE LAT. 7412, F. 1r–23v (11th C.);243
15;12 APPENDIX F: ASTROLABE ARTEFACTS AND ASTROLABE DRAWINGS DISCUSSED IN THIS STUDY;245
16;13 BIBLIOGRAPHY;247
17;NAME INDEX;268
18;SUBJECT INDEX;270

Über Autor(innen)

Borrelli, Arianna
Arianna Borrelli, Studium der theoretischen Physik in Rom. Forschungstätigkeit als Physikerin in Italien, England und der Schweiz. Magister in Philosophie und Promotion in Wissenschaftsgeschichte an der TU Braunschweig. Aktuelle Forschungstätigkeit als Post-Doc am Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftestgeschichte (Berlin).
Forschungsschwerpunkte: Wechselwirkung zwischen abstrakten Formen und materiellem Kontext, mit besonderer Aufmerksamkeit für Mathematisierung und Quantifizierung in mittelalterlichen, neuzeitlichen und modernen Naturphilosophie und Naturwissenschaft. Arianna Borrelli, study of Theoretical Physics in Rome. Research activity as a physicist in Italy, U.K. and Switzerland. Master of Philosophy and PhD in History of Science at the Universtity of Braunschweig. At present, Post-doc Fellow at the Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science (Berlin). Research focus: Interplay between abstract forms and material contexts, with special attention to mathematisation and quantification in medieval, early modern and modern natural philosophy and science.