A History of Magic and Experimental Science, Volume 2 (of 2)

A History of Magic and Experimental Science, Volume 2 (of 2) - During the First Thirteen Centuries of Our Era

Relation of scholastic theology to our themeCharacter of Abelards learningIncorrect statements of his viewsThe nature of the starsPrediction of natural and contingent eventsThe Magi and the starDemons and forces in natureMagic and natural scienceHugh of St. VictorCharacter of the DidascaliconMeaning of PhysicaThe study of historyThe two mathematics: astrology, natural and superstitiousThe superlunar and sublunar worldsDiscussion of magicFive sub-divisions of magicDe bestiis et aliis rebus. The names of Peter Abelard, 1079-1142, and Hugh or Hugo of St. Victor, 1096-1141, have been coupled as those of the two men who perhaps more than any others were the founders of scholastic theology. Our investigation is not very closely or directly concerned with scholastic theology, which I hope to show did not so exclusively absorb the intellectual energy of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as has sometimes been asserted. Our attention will be mainly devoted as heretofore to the pursuit of natural science during that period and the prominence both of experimental method and of magic in the same. But our investigation deals not only with magic and experimental science, but with their relation to Christian thought. It is therefore with interest that we turn to the works of these two early representatives of scholastic theology, and inquire what cognizance, if any, they take of the subjects in which we are especially interested. As we proceed into the later twelfth and thirteenth centuries in subsequent chapters, we shall also take occasion to note the utterances of other leading men of learning who speak largely from the theological standpoint, like John of Salisbury and Thomas Aquinas. Let us hasten to admit [Pg 4] also that the scholastic method of instruction and writing made itself felt in natural science and medicine as well as in theology, as a number of our subsequent chapters will illustrate. In the present chapter we shall furthermore be brought again into contact with the topic of the Physiologus and Latin Bestiaries, owing to the fact that a treatise of this sort has been ascribed, although probably incorrectly, to Hugh of St. Victor. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 67330
Author: Thorndike, Lynn
Release Date: Feb 5, 2022
Format: eBook
Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publication Date: 1923
Publisher Country: United States