Light Path

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-79
Author(s):  
Russell Smith ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Circular Motion ◽  
Kinematics And Dynamics ◽  
Rectilinear Motion ◽  
Light Path ◽  
Local Motion ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Mechanical Motion ◽  
Point Motion

This paper focuses on the mathematisation of mechanics in the seventeenth century, specifically on how the representation of compounded rectilinear motions presented in the ancient Greek Mechanica found its way into Newton’s Principia almost two thousand years later. I aim to show that the path from the former to the latter was optical: the conceptualisation of geometrical lines as paths of reflection created a physical interpretation of dia­grammatic principles of geometrical point-motion, involving the kinematics and dynamics of light reflection. Upon the atomistic conception of light, the optical interpretation of such geometrical principles entailed their mechanical generalisation to local motion; rectilinear motion via the physico-mathemat­ics of reflection and the Mechanica’s parallelogram rule; circular motion via the physico-mathematics of reflection, the Archimedean squaring of the circle and the Mechanica’s extension of the parallelogram rule to centripetal motion. This appeal to the physico-mathematics of reflection forged a realist founda­tion for the mathematisation of motion. Whereas Aristotle’s physics rested on motions which had their source in the nature of the elements, early modern thinkers such as Harriot, Descartes, and Newton based their new principles of mechanical motion upon selected elements of the mechanics of light motion, projected upon the geometry of the parallelogram rule for rectilinear and, ultimately, circular motion.

A subjective touch

2020 ◽  
pp. 125-135
Author(s):  
Raf Van Rooy
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Close Link ◽  
Local Elites

From the late sixteenth century onwards, dialect was conceptualized as an anomalous deviation from the analogical language under which it resorted. Chapter 9 suggests that this interpretation may have had its roots in Greek ideas. The analogy / anomaly conception was additionally grounded in early modern linguistic realities, since the advancing standardization led to a stronger contrast between the prescribed norm and everything deviating from it. Out of this normative interpretation, the highly subjective idea that language was superior to dialect developed almost naturally during the seventeenth century. Whereas theorizing on dialect had remained neutral in the sixteenth century because of the close link it had with the esteemed Ancient Greek dialects, it was detached from it during the seventeenth century. In addition, local elites gradually turned their back on their native dialects, embracing the upcoming standard languages. This social evolution likewise enhanced the severe degradation of the dialect concept.

scholarly journals "Commentatio tertia, nummaria" by Johann Peter Titius. A Contribution to the Knowledge of Ancient Greek and Roman Coins in the 17th-century Gdańsk Academic Gymnasium

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 203-218
Author(s):  
Bartosz Awianowicz
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Roman Coins ◽  
Historical Writings ◽  
Accounting Units ◽  
Practical Nature

Johann Peter Titz (Lat. Titius, 1619-1689), a professor of rhetoric at the Gdańsk Academic Gymnasium is known as an author of speeches, poems, rhetorical and historical writings. However, in 1676 he published an important (though less known) work on numismatics: Commentatio tertia, nummaria, de pecunia vetere ac nova, abaco tabulisque exhibita (Third, Monetary Commentary, on Old and New Money, Presented on a Plate and in Tables) as a signifcant part (320 pages) of a collection of treatises of more than 1,000 pages entitled Manuductio ad excerpendum. The aim of the paper is to present the content of the Commentatio tertia, nummaria and its ancient and early modern sources. The overall approach to the Titius’ study shows its practical nature (almost a third of the entire argument is devoted to attempts to reconcile the values of various ancient denominations and accounting units with contemporary coins) which seems to suggest that it might have been used by students viewing the coin collection in the Gdańsk library. A more thorough examination of the Commentatio alongside an analysis of the accounts of the seventeenth-century Gdańsk writer’s numismatic collection may contribute to determining to what extent numismatics were a permanent feature in the gymnasium curriculum in Gdańsk in the latter seventeenth century, and to what extent the youth (juventus) of the Academic Gymnasium, to whom Titius was addressing his work, really wanted to and could identify ancient Greek, Roman and Jewish coins.

Theories on Tornado and Waterspout Formation in Ancient Greece and Rome

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 889-900 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogdan Antonescu ◽  
David M. Schultz ◽  
Hugo M. A. M. Ricketts ◽  
Dragoş Ene
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Observational Studies ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Circular Motion ◽  
Arabic Version ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Early Literature ◽  
Natural Philosophers

Abstract Tornadoes and waterspouts have long fascinated humankind through their presence in myths and popular beliefs and originally were believed to have supernatural causes. The first theories explaining weather phenomena as having natural causes were proposed by ancient Greek natural philosophers. Aristotle was one of the first natural philosophers to speculate about the formation of tornadoes and waterspouts in Meteorologica (circa 340 BCE). Aristotle believed that tornadoes and waterspouts were associated with the wind trapped inside the cloud and moving in a circular motion. When the wind escapes the cloud, its descending motion carries the cloud with it, leading to the formation of a typhon (i.e., tornado or waterspout). His theories were adopted and further nuanced by other Greek philosophers such as Theophrastus and Epicurus. Aristotle’s ideas also influenced Roman philosophers such as Lucretius, Seneca, and Pliny the Elder, who further developed his ideas and also added their own speculations (e.g., tornadoes do not need a parent cloud). Almost ignored, Meteorologica was translated into Latin in the twelfth century, initially from an Arabic version, leading to much greater influence over the next centuries and into the Renaissance. In the seventeenth century, the first book-length studies on tornadoes and waterspouts were published in Italy and France, marking the beginning of theoretical and observational studies on these phenomena in Europe. Even if speculations about tornadoes and waterspouts proposed by Greek and Roman authors were cited after the nineteenth century only as historical pieces, core ideas of modern theories explaining these vortices can be traced back to this early literature.

Language Matters: ‘Counsel’ in Early Modern and Modern Medicine

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Sabroe ◽  
Phil Withington
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Scientific Revolution ◽  
Modern Medicine ◽  
Francis Bacon ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Founding Fathers ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
Successful Scientist

Francis Bacon is famous today as one of the founding fathers of the so-called ‘scientific revolution’ of the seventeenth century. Although not an especially successful scientist himself, he was nevertheless the most eloquent and influential spokesperson for an approach to knowledge that promised to transform human understanding of both humanity and its relationship with the natural and social worlds. The central features of this approach, as they emerged in Bacon’s own writings and the work of his protégés and associates after 1605, are equally well known. They include the importance of experiment, observation, and a sceptical attitude towards inherited wisdom (from the ‘ancients’ in general and Aristotle in particular).

Divine Machines

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin E. H. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Theoretical Interest ◽  
Living World ◽  
Mechanical Philosophy ◽  
Organic Life ◽  
The World ◽  
Generation Theory

Though it did not yet exist as a discrete field of scientific inquiry, biology was at the heart of many of the most important debates in seventeenth-century philosophy. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the work of G. W. Leibniz. This book offers the first in-depth examination of Leibniz's deep and complex engagement with the empirical life sciences of his day, in areas as diverse as medicine, physiology, taxonomy, generation theory, and paleontology. The book shows how these wide-ranging pursuits were not only central to Leibniz's philosophical interests, but often provided the insights that led to some of his best-known philosophical doctrines. Presenting the clearest picture yet of the scope of Leibniz's theoretical interest in the life sciences, the book takes seriously the philosopher's own repeated claims that the world must be understood in fundamentally biological terms. Here it reveals a thinker who was immersed in the sciences of life, and looked to the living world for answers to vexing metaphysical problems. The book casts Leibniz's philosophy in an entirely new light, demonstrating how it radically departed from the prevailing models of mechanical philosophy and had an enduring influence on the history and development of the life sciences. Along the way, the book provides a fascinating glimpse into early modern debates about the nature and origins of organic life, and into how philosophers such as Leibniz engaged with the scientific dilemmas of their era.

Study of Kynematics and Dynamics in the Traffic of Rembangan Tourism in the Jember Regency as Learning Resources for Physics Learning in the Senior High School

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfido Fauzy Zakaria ◽  
Bambang Supriadi ◽  
Trapsilo Prihandono
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
School Teacher ◽  
High School Teacher ◽  
Senior High School ◽  
Circular Motion ◽  
Rectilinear Motion ◽  
Learning Resources ◽  
Physics Learning ◽  
Newton's Law ◽  
Newton’S Law

One branch of physics is mechanics. Based on interviews to Senior High School teacher in Jember, mechanics is difficult to learn. The eksternals factor this chapter is dificult to learn is learning Resources. The learning Resources are often less contextuall with around the phenomenon of students. The contextuall learning Resources in the Jember Regency is study of kynematics and dynamics in the traffic of Rembangan Tourism. From this experiment, we get data can be used as a learning resources chapter uniform rectilinear motion, decelerated uniform rectilinear motion, accelerated uniform rectilinear motion, Newton’s Law, and circular motion.

Orthodox Radicals

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew C. Bingham
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Group Identity ◽  
Religious Toleration ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Infant Baptism ◽  
English Revolution ◽  
Baptist Identity ◽  
Ongoing Project

Orthodox Radicals explores the origins and identity of Baptists during the English Revolution (1640–1660), arguing that mid-seventeenth century Baptists did not, in fact, understand themselves to be part of a larger, all-encompassing “Baptist” movement. Contrary to both the explicit statements of many historians and the tacit suggestion embedded in the very use of “Baptist” as an overarching historical category, the early modern men and women who rejected infant baptism would not have initially understood that single theological move as being in itself constitutive of a new group identity. Rather, the rejection of infant baptism was but one of a number of doctrinal revisions then taking place among English puritans eager to further their ongoing project of godly reformation. Orthodox Radicals thus complicates our understanding of Baptist identity and addresses broader themes including early modern religious toleration, the mechanisms by which early modern groups defined and defended themselves, and the perennial problem of historical anachronism. By combining a provocative reinterpretation Baptist identity with close readings of key theological and political texts, Orthodox Radicals offers the most original and stimulating analysis of mid-seventeenth century Baptists in decades.

Stuart Succession Literature

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
British Literature ◽  
The Political ◽  
Literature And Politics ◽  
Distinct Category ◽  
Political Structures ◽  
Distinguished Group ◽  
Modern British Literature

Moments of royal succession, which punctuated the Stuart era (1603–1714), occasioned outpourings of literature. Writers, including most of the major figures of the seventeenth century from Jonson, Daniel, and Donne to Marvell, Dryden, and Behn, seized upon these occasions to mark the transition of power; to reflect upon the political structures and values of their nation; and to present themselves as authors worthy of patronage and recognition. This volume of essays explores this important category of early modern writing. It contends that succession literature warrants attention as a distinct category: appreciated by contemporaries, acknowledged by a number of scholars, but never investigated in a coherent and methodical manner, it helped to shape political reputations and values across the period. Benefiting from the unique database of such writing generated by the AHRC-funded Stuart Successions Project, the volume brings together a distinguished group of authors to address a subject which is of wide and growing interest to students both of history and of literature. It illuminates the relation between literature and politics in this pivotal century of English political and cultural history. Interdisciplinary in scope, the volume will be indispensable to scholars of early modern British literature and history as well as undergraduates and postgraduates in both fields.

Bjørn Okholm Skaarup, Anatomy and Anatomists in Early Modern Spain (Farnham/Burlington VT: Ashgate, 2015), xii + 285pp. ISBN: 9781471448162

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian Nutton
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Spain

This chapter reviews the book Anatomy and Anatomists in Early Modern Spain (2015), by Bjørn Okholm Skaarup. The book traces the development of anatomy in Spain and Mexico from 1500 to the end of the seventeenth century. Skaarup cites particular instances where the Spanish experience can contribute substantially to wider debates, including Juan Tomas Porcell’s autopsies of plague victims in a hospital at Zaragoza in 1568 and the detailed plan of 1586 for a ‘house of anatomy’ there. He challenges O’Malley’s exaggerated description, based on Vesalius’s comments on his time in Spain between 1559 and 1561, that doctors and surgeons lack interest in anatomy. Skaarup reveals the difficulties faced by those who wished to introduce dissection as an essential part of the education of a doctor, as well as the objections that might be made.

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