Science and the Origins of Civilization

2020 ◽  
pp. 19-45
Author(s):  
Stephen Gaukroger
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
The West ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
The Middle Ages ◽  
The Way

This chapter explores the way in which the understanding of civilization shifted away from religious, political, social, and artistic achievements in the direction of science in the course of the modern era. The idea that the uniqueness of the West consisted in its Christian heritage was undermined by Voltaire’s exploration of the values of Chinese culture, and d’Alembert’s argument that learning in Europe had stagnated in the Middle Ages. The answer to this stagnation was perceived to lie in science because science was the only effective weapon against superstition. Underlying the discussion is the question of the relation between science, civilization, and modernity.

scholarly journals Algunes dades sobre la transmissió de les vides de sants entre l’edat mitjana i l’època moderna a la Corona d’Aragó

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 189
Author(s):  
Marinela Garcia Sempere
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Visual Arts ◽  
Lives Of Saints ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
Cultura Popular ◽  
Legenda Aurea ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
The Middle Ages ◽  
The Way

sum: En l’edat mitjana les vides de sants eren models a seguir, exemples en els sermonaris i en els textos didacticodoctrinals. La popularitat d’aquestes vides es reflecteix en les arts plàstiques i visuals, en la literatura i en la cultura popular. A través de l’exemple de la transmissió escrita de tres vides de sants incloses en la traducció catalana de la Legenda aurea, presentem en aquest treball una aproximació a la manera en què es difonien aquelles vides, que circulaven de manera individual o integrades en compilacions i que podien oferir versions diferents en cada cas. La repercussió d’aquelles vides perviu en l’època moderna, que les recull en forma de composicions en vers, obres de teatre i altres gèneres.Paraules clau: hagiografia, Legenda aurea, traduccions, edat mitjana, època moderna.Abstract: The lives of saints in the Middle Ages were models to follow, examples to be used in sermons and didactic or doctrinal writings. Their popularity is reflected in plastic and visual arts, in literature, and in popular culture. Through the example of the written transmission in Catalan of three lives of saints, included in the Catalan translation of the Legenda aurea, we present in this work an approach to the way in which those lives circulated individually or as part of compilations, each of which could present different versions of the same life. The repercussion of those lives survives into the Modern Age, when they take the form of compositions in verse, of plays, or of works in other literary genres.Keywords: hagiography, Golden Legend, translations, Middle Ages, modern era.

Reflections on the Evolution of the Prophet’s Biographies in the East and West

2018 ◽  
pp. 41-60
Author(s):  
Hussein Ahmad Amin
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Ethical Standards ◽  
The West ◽  
History Of ◽  
East And West ◽  
The Middle Ages ◽  
The Way

This chapter explores the concept of history of early Muslim historians and their attitude towards the Prophet’s biography (Sira). It discusses how evolving tastes and values affected their biographical writing. It also discusses when and why facts began to get blurred and invented incidents and miracles began to be ascribed to the Prophet, leading to the way in which the Prophet’s biography is dealt with in the twentieth century. The chapter further discusses how the Prophet’s biography was written in Europe during the Middle Ages and the influence that modern European trends of thought and contact with the West had on its writing. The chapter highlights Montgomery Watt’s Defence of Muhammad and critically engages with it. The chapter closes with Hussein Amin’s wish for a new, objective, unapologetic and truthful biography that is grounded in the Prophet’s own time and milieu, reflecting his contemporary ethical standards and values.

Ritual and reality in the early medieval ordines

1975 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 41-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet L. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Know How ◽  
Full Picture ◽  
The Middle Ages ◽  
The Way

To know what was generally believed in all ages, the way is to consult the liturgies, not any private man’s writings.’ John Selden’s maxim, which surely owed much to his own pioneering work as a liturgist, shows a shrewd appreciation of the significance of the medieval ordines for the consecration of kings. Thanks to the more recent efforts of Waitz, Eichmann, Schramm and others, this material now forms part of the medievalist’s stock in trade; and much has been written on the evidence which the ordines provide concerning the nature of kingship, and the interaction of church and state, in the middle ages. The usefulness of the ordines to the historian might therefore seem to need no further demonstration or qualification. But there is another side to the coin. The value of the early medieval ordines can be, not perhaps overestimated, but misconstrued. ‘The liturgies’ may indeed tell us ‘what was generally believed’—but we must first be sure that we know how they were perceived and understood by their participants, as well as by their designers. They need to be correlated with other sources, and as often as possible with ‘private writings’ too, before the full picture becomes intelligible.

Book Review: The Middle Ages in the West

Theology ◽  
1950 ◽  
Vol 53 (356) ◽  
pp. 71-72
Author(s):  
Claude Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
The West ◽  
The Middle Ages

“Take dragon’s blood and crush it to a fine powder”: recipes in the alchemical composite manuscript MS Gotha orient A. 1162

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Braun
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Fine Powder ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
The West ◽  
Dragon’S Blood ◽  
Transmission Of Knowledge ◽  
Healing Rituals ◽  
The Middle Ages

Abstract In the Middle Ages, the recipe was of central importance for the safeguarding and transmission of knowledge. This holds true for the scientific traditions of both the East and the West. Recipes have been transmitted in a multitude of manuscripts, either alone or in combination with other recipes and works. This article presents a collection of recipes for the production of inks that have been handed down in an alchemical collective manuscript. The collection also contains a recipe to ward off the pestilence. This combination of alchemy, healing rituals and ink production is more common than one might think. The question arises whether this is due to pure coincidence or whether such collections reflect a literary tradition?

VII.—The Argument of the Vision of Piers Plowman

PMLA ◽  
1894 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-450
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Deering Hanscom
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Piers Plowman ◽  
Storm And Stress ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
The Middle Ages

The fourteenth century was for England a period of storm and stress. The Saxon genius does not achieve its conquests lightly; it does not march to victory with furled flags or muffled drums; it is profoundly conscious of its own effort and the object to be realized. True, it often attains more than it hopes or even knows; but it attains the larger result through the accomplishment of the immediate purpose. The internal struggles are those that cost, with nations as with men; and it is no small part of the greatness of England that she has been able to see and strong to resist those dangers which, rising from within, have threatened to overthrow that stability which outward foes have in vain assailed. In that century which marked the close of the middle ages and the beginning of the modern era, England was busy taking cities and ruling her own spirit, and only the wise knew which was the better.

scholarly journals The Idea of Determinacy of the Supreme Government by Electoral Technologies in the European Medieval State Legal Tradition

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 61-68
Author(s):  
Viktor A. Kovalev ◽  
◽  
Konstantin E. Krylov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
The Core ◽  
Legal Thought ◽  
Legal Concepts ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
The Middle Ages

The main theme of the article is investigation of the electoral culture in the European political and legal thought. Authors argue the ancient sources of this tradition tracing it from the three sources — Roman, German and Christian political thoughts. During the Middle Ages European legal concepts of the supreme power’s nature oscillated between hereditary and election as a foundation of the supreme power. Only on the edge of the Middle Ages and the Modern Era monarchy became strait hereditary. The idea of election did not disappear, remains the core ingridient of the image of power’s legitimacy.

scholarly journals Tòpics retòrics dels textos hagiogràfics bizantins i catalans

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
Ángel Narro
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
The West ◽  
Lives Of Saints ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Catalan Literature ◽  
The Middle Ages

Resum: El present treball analitza comparativament els principals tòpics retòrics presents als pròlegs de textos hagiogràfics bizantins i catalans. El punt de partença és la consolidació del gènere hagiogràfic com a tal en la literatura grega tardo-antiga i d’època bizantina i la seua influència sobre el desenvolupament de l’hagiografia en Occident, primer en llatí i després en les llengües romàniques a partir de l’Edat Mitjana. En aquest sentit, podrem observar l’ús d’un mateix repertori de caràcter retòric per presentar i embellir el text i analitzarem l’explicació d’aquest fenomen i les perspectives d’estudi a explorar.    Paraules clau: hagiografia, literatura bizantina, literatura catalana, vides de sants.   Abstract: This article is aimed to compare the main rhetorical topoi of the prologues of both Byzantine and Catalan Hagiographical texts. The starting point is the consolidation of Hagiography as a literary genre in Late Antique Greek and Byzantine literature and its influence on the development of Hagiography in the West, first on Latin and then on Romance texts from the Middle Ages. In this way, we will observe the use of similar rhetorical resources to introduce and embellish the texts and analyze the explanation of this issue and the different approaches to explore.   Keywords: hagiography, byzantine literature, catalan literature, lives of saints.  

Aquinas on the Foundations of Knowledge

1991 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 125-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleonore Stump
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Theory Of Knowledge ◽  
Alvin Plantinga ◽  
Western Thought ◽  
The West ◽  
Philosophical Thought ◽  
Justified Belief ◽  
High Middle Ages ◽  
Classical Foundationalism ◽  
The Middle Ages

Aquinas is sometimes taken to hold a foundationalist theory of knowledge. So, for example, Nicholas Wolterstorff says, “Foundationalism has been the reigning theory of theories in the West since the high Middle Ages. It can be traced back as far as Aristotle, and since the Middle Ages vast amounts of philosophical thought have been devoted to elaborating and defending it‥ ‥ Aquinas offers one classic version of foundationalism.” And Alvin Plantinga says, “we can get a better understanding of Aquinas … if we see [him] as accepting some version of classical foundationalism. This is a picture or total way of looking at faith, knowledge, justified belief, rationality, and allied topics. This picture has been enormously popular in Western thought; and despite a substantial opposing ground-swell, I think it remains the dominant way of thinking about these topics.”

The Japanese Village in the Seventeenth Century

1952 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Thomas C. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Body ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Vital Function ◽  
The West ◽  
Social Body ◽  
The Social ◽  
Physical Barriers ◽  
The Middle Ages

As in the Middle Ages in the West, so in Tokugawa Japan (1600–1868) men were fond of explaining the hierarchical society in which they lived by comparing it to an organism. Social classes, Confucian scholars said, were like parts of the body: each had a vital function to perform, but their functions were essentially different and unequal in value. In this scheme the peasants were second in importance only to the ruling military class. Just as the samurai officials were the brains that guided other organs, so the peasants were the feet that held the social body erect. They were the “basis of the country,” the valued producers whose labor sustained all else. But, as a class, they tended innately to backsliding and extravagance. Left alone they would consume more than their share of the social income, ape the manners and tastes of their betters, and even encroach upon the functions of other classes to the perilous neglect of their own. Only the lash of necessity and the sharp eye of the official could hold them to their disagreeable role. They had to be bound to the land; social distinctions had to be thrown up around them like so many physical barriers; and, to remove all temptation to indolence and luxury, they had to be left only enough of what they produced to let them continue producing.

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