The Relationship of Medieval Natural Philosophy to Modern Science: The Contribution of Thomas Aquinas to Its Understanding

Manuscripta ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Weisheipl
Keyword(s):  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Virtual Reality from the Standpoint of Complexity Science

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 244-260
Author(s):  
Helena Knyazeva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
The Past ◽  
Extended Approach ◽  
Human Creativity ◽  
The Future ◽  
Latent Potential ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

An extended approach to the comprehension of virtual reality is developed in the article. Virtual reality is understood not only as a logically possible or cybernetically constructed reality but also as continuous turbulence of potencies of the complex natural and social world we live in, the wandering of complex systems and organizations over a field of possibilities, such a realization of forms and structures in which many formations remain in latent, potential forms, and are in the permanent process of making and multiplying a spectrum of possibilities, lead to the growth of the evolutionary tree of paths of development. It is shown that such an understanding of virtual reality corresponds to concepts and notions developed in the modern science of complexity. The most significant concepts are considered, such as the nonlinearity of time, the relationship of space and time, the uncertainty of the past and the openness of the future, the choice and construction of the future at the moments of passing the bifurcation points. Some cultural and historical prototypes of these modern ideas of virtual reality are given. It is substantiated that the vision of virtual reality being developed today can play the role of a heuristic tool for understanding the functioning and stimulation of human creativity.

Sense and Evidence

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 102-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ritika Ganguly
Keyword(s):  
Science Studies ◽  
Medical Knowledge ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Analysis Experiment ◽  
Complex Knowledge ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Right ◽  
Participant Observer ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This paper takes an ethnographic look at laboratory discourses and procedures in the scientific construction of contemporary ayurvedic research in India. It opens up for analysis an experiment in a ‘transdisciplinary’ research laboratory that seeks to understand the methodological and epistemic logic of ayurvedic pharmacology with the help of research methodologies specific to modern Science. In doing so, this paper unravels the various meanings that Science has for its different stakeholders. I examine—as participant, observer, and trainee—a ‘Sensory Analysis’ experiment conducted by scientists at a pharmacology and pharmacognosy laboratory for ayurvedic medicine in Bangalore. Postcolonial science studies have analysed the ways in which discourses of science lead to new knowledges and technologies as well as new ways of organising traditional medical knowledge. Yet the processes that reconcile traditional and modern methodologies of pharmacological and pharmacognostic research have received less attention. The experiment that I am discussing here revisits the ayurvedic doctrine of savours and qualities to standardise not only the parameters indicating the nature of a drug, but also standardise the human body itself as a tool to develop a specific ayurvedic methodology. I argue that in its association with the laboratory and the experimental method, the pursuit of ‘open-minded’dravyaguṇaresearch conceptualises new research in Ayurveda in terms of the right tools, simplifies complex knowledge, and reorganises the relationship of modern ayurvedic research with classical scientific thought.

scholarly journals Reconciling hydrology with engineering

2013 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Demetris Koutsoyiannis
Keyword(s):  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Change Of Direction ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Adverse Impacts ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Autonomous Science

Hydrology has played an important role in the birth of science. Yet practical hydrological knowledge, related to human needs for water storage, transfer and management, existed before the development of natural philosophy and science. In contemporary times, hydrology has had strong links with engineering as its development has been related to the needs of the design and management of water infrastructures. In the 1980s these links were questioned and it was suggested that separating hydrology from engineering would be beneficial for both. It is argued that, thereafter, hydrology, instead of becoming an autonomous science, developed new dependencies, particularly on politically driven agendas. This change of direction in effect demoted the role of hydrology, for example in studying hypothetical or projected climate-related threats. Revisiting past experiences suggests that re-establishing the relationship of hydrology with engineering could be beneficial. The study of change and the implied uncertainty and risk could constitute a field of mutual integration of hydrology and engineering. Engineering experience may help hydrology to appreciate that change is essential for progress and evolution, rather than only having adverse impacts. While the uncertainty and risk cannot be eliminated they can be dealt with in a quantitative and rigorous manner.

ARISTOTELIANISM, DESCARTES, AND HOBBES

2007 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 449-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL EDWARDS
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The historiography of early modern Aristotelian philosophy and its relationship with its seventeenth-century critics, such as Hobbes and Descartes, has expanded in recent years. This article explores the dynamics of this project, focusing on a tendency to complicate and divide up the category of Aristotelianism into multiple ‘Aristotelianisms’, and the significance of this move for attempts to write a contextual history of the relationship of Hobbes and Descartes to their Aristotelian contemporaries and predecessors. In particular, it considers recent work on Cartesian and Hobbesian natural philosophy, and the ways in which historians have related the different forms of early modern Aristotelianism to the projects of the novatores.

Giles of Rome (c.1243/7–1316)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Del punta ◽  
Cecilia Trifogli
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Medieval Philosophy ◽  
The Real ◽  
Substantial Form ◽  
Time And Motion ◽  
The University ◽  
Theological Thought ◽  
The Relationship

Giles of Rome was one of the most eminent theologians and commentators on the works of Aristotle at the University of Paris in the second half of the thirteenth century. He was probably a pupil of Thomas Aquinas, who exerted a deep influence on Giles’ metaphysical and theological thought. Giles’ reception of Aquinas’ positions, however, was often critical and original. For historians of medieval philosophy, Giles’ name is mainly associated with the doctrine of ‘the real distinction’ between essence (essentia) and existence (esse). According to this doctrine, essence and existence are two completely distinct things (res) of which the ontological structure of every created being is composed. On the issue of the relationship between essence and existence Giles took a firm position against his contemporary Henry of Ghent, who maintained that existence is a mere relation of the essence of a created being to its creator. Giles was also involved in the debate over the unity of the substantial form in composite substances, another burning issue in the thirteenth century. As a commentator on Aristotle’s works, Giles made original contributions to the tradition of Aristotelian natural philosophy, especially in his treatment of extension, place, time and motion in a vacuum.

The Ambivalence of St. Thomas Aquinas' View of the Relationship of Divine Law to Human Law

1955 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-128
Author(s):  
Jane E. Ruby
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Divine Law

In the Article of the Summa theologica on the question “whether infidels can have dominion and rule over Christians” (II–ii, q. 10, a. 10), St. Thomas says:Dominion and rule are based on human law; the distinction between Christian and infidel springs from divine law. But divine law, which is founded in grace, does not destroy human law, which stems from natural reason. Therefore, the distinction between Christian and infidel does not, considered in itself, destroy the dominion and rule of infidels over Christians.

Helvétius and the Roots of the “Closed” Society

1974 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blair Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
New Science ◽  
Political Views ◽  
Historical Circumstance ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
General Perspective

The argument of this essay is that Talmon and Popper are mistaken in their suggestion that speculation about human affairs is governed by an inexorable logic of political consequences: that there exist certain broad perspectives or ‘paradigms” that impel men willy-nilly to pathological extremes in their political views, apart from intention or historical circumstance.I seek to demonstrate that the general perspective which informed the thought of Helvétius—unquestionably one of the most manipulative of thinkers in his conception of politics—was simply the framework of early-modern science, as it was understood in France. It was the same philosophy which served his unequivocally libertarian contemporaries, such as Voltaire and Diderot, as well as their predecessors. Helvétius' political conclusions resulted, not from pathological attitudes or doctrines, but rather from his attempt to resolve a problem engendered within the new science, a fundamental dilemma in French thinking concerning the relationship of the individual to society and the state.

VIRTUE, NATURAL LAW, AND SUPERNATURAL SOLICITATION: A THOMISTIC READING OF SHAKESPEARE'S MACBETH

2001 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hibbs ◽  
Stacey Hibbs
Keyword(s):  
Natural Law ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Progressive Loss ◽  
Material Goods ◽  
Lady Macbeth ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis essay explores a remarkable congruence between Macbeth and the teachings of Thomas Aquinas on the nature of virtue, temptation and evil, natural law, and the relationship of the natural to the supernatural. Macbeth's virtue is problematic in that initially he seems courageous when on the attack in battle. But in reality he shows the excessive vice of boldness, and subsequently he fails to manifest courageous endurance and patience in clinging to the good, drifting rather into restlessness and impatience. Aquinas defines evil as a privation of the good. Macbeth persistently chooses apparent good over real good, as he is tempted by the witches and Lady Macbeth. He violates the natural law and suffers extrinsic and intrinsic punishment, a conception linking the play with Aquinas rather than Hooker and Locke. Furthermore, his decline into evil mirrors Aquinas conceptions of the order of punishments following on violation of the natural law, evident in the progressive loss of eternal happiness, virtue, reason and physical and material goods. Finally, the play is not naturalistic but portrays the witches and Macbeth's opponents as instruments of the supernatural.

scholarly journals Christian in the modern world: S. S. Averintsev's mission

2020 ◽  
Vol 210 ◽  
pp. 16028
Author(s):  
Platon Kuzmin
Keyword(s):  
Modern Science ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Orthodox Christian ◽  
Semiotic Approach ◽  
Actual Direction ◽  
Orthodox Theology ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The methods of study and presentation by S. Averintsev Orthodox Christian tradition were considered. The role of the semiotic method in the study of Christianity by Averintsev was defined and the relationship of this method and content of the results of his research was revealed. The identified errors in the presentation of Orthodox theology are considered as the result of ignoring a number of significanat texts of the Orthodox tradition. Methods: description, comparison, analysis, contextual and semiotic analysis. It is established that semiotics is an actual direction of study in modern science, and the semiotic method was used by Averintsev in the study of early Byzantine literature. In particular, the scholar used diffusive and functional approaches when considering texts, paying attention to the context of the use of a language unit, which is a sign of the semiotic method. Errors of S.S. Averintsev in the presentation of Orthodox theology (in sophiology and mariology) are the result of incorrect application of the semiotic method, ignoring the essential texts that create the context of the studied tradition. The analysis of the semiotic approach used By S. S. Averintsev in the study of culture, presented in this article, has not been carried out before. It is concluded that all essential texts of the tradition must be taken into account for authentic presentation of Orthodox theology, which is facilitated by the use of the semiotic method.

scholarly journals THE TRADITION OF ALCHEMICAL AND ASTROLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE WITHIN AND AROUND THEOPHAN PROKOPOVYCH’S LIBRARY

Skhid ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 51-58
Author(s):  
Kostiantyn RODYHIN ◽  
Mykhailo RODYHIN
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
Physical Knowledge ◽  
Baroque Era ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Western Historiography

The important role of the alchemical and astrological tradition in the formation and trans-formation of science as a social institution in the Early Modern period is researched in detail in Western historiography of science. At the same time, the Ukrainian aspect of this pan-European phenomenon needs further intensive study.The article deals with the alchemical and astrological component of Ukrainian science of the High Baroque era on an example of Theophan Prokopovych (1677 – 1736). The analysis of the ca¬talog of Prokopovych’s library confirmed that the alchemical-astrological and magical-physical knowledge belonged to the sphere of interests of the scholar. His activity, in addi-tion to cosmogonic reasoning and mathematical calculations, also had a practical compo-nent. Books from the library’s holdings included works of late alchemy, which allowed Pro-kopovych to be aware of the latest ideas, trends, and achievements in this and related fields of knowledge. This is reflected in the formation of the worldview and creative work of the scholar.A comparison of the facts of biographies, the essence and direction of creativity, and the relationship of the authors mentioned in Prokopovych’s treatise “Natural Philosophy or Physics”, testified to the existence of the united pan-European scientific and information space, within which the tradition of late alchemy was formed and transformed during the 16th-18th centuries. Theophan Prokopovych also belonged to this tradition, and his works reflected the state and essence of Ukrainian alchemical knowledge of the High Baroque era. Prokopovych’s own views on problems of alchemy and astrology are a topic of special re-search.

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