The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, Prehistory to A.D. 1450, Second Edition

David C. Lindberg

University of Chicago Press, 15. veebr 2010 - 480 pages

When it was first published in 1992, The Beginnings of Western Science was lauded as the first successful attempt ever to present a unified account of both ancient and medieval science in a single volume. Chronicling the development of scientific ideas, practices, and institutions from pre-Socratic Greek philosophy to late-Medieval scholasticism, David C. Lindberg surveyed all the most important themes in the history of science, including developments in cosmology, astronomy, mechanics, optics, alchemy, natural history, and medicine. In addition, he offered an illuminating account of the transmission of Greek science to medieval Islam and subsequently to medieval Europe. The Beginnings of Western Science was, and remains, a landmark in the history of science, shaping the way students and scholars understand these critically formative periods of scientific development. It reemerges here in a second edition that includes revisions on nearly every page, as well as several sections that have been completely rewritten. For example, the section on Islamic science has been thoroughly retooled to reveal the magnitude and sophistication of medieval Muslim scientific achievement. And the book now reflects a sharper awareness of the importance of Mesopotamian science for the development of Greek astronomy. In all, the second edition of The Beginnings of Western Science captures the current state of our understanding of more than two millennia of science and promises to continue to inspire both students and general readers.

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The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious and Institutional Context, 600 BC to AD 1450. By David C Lindberg. If you wish to understand how ...

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Textbook for Historical Dimensions of Liberal Studies - 302A

Contents

• 1 Science Before the Greeks: 1
• 2 The Greeks and the Cosmos: 21
• 3 Aristotles Philosophy of Nature: 45
• 4 Hellenistic Natural Philosophy: 67
• 5 The Mathematical Sciences in Antiquity: 82
• 6 Greek and Roman Medicine: 111
• 7 Roman and Early Medieval Science: 132
• 8 Islamic Science: 163
• 9 The Revival of Learning in the West: 193
• 10 The Recovery and Assimilation of Greekand Islamic Science: 225
• 11 The Medieval Cosmos: 254
• 12 The Physics of the Sublunar Region: 286
• 13 Medieval Medicine and Natural History: 321
• 14 The Legacy of Ancient and Medieval Science: 357
• Notes: 369
• Bibliography: 413
• Index: 463

About the author

David C. Lindberg is the Hilldale Professor Emeritus of the History of Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and past-president of the History of Science Society. He is the author or editor of many books, including, with coeditor Ronald L. Numbers, When Science and Christianity Meet, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, Prehistory to A.D. 1450, Second Edition
• Author: David C. Lindberg
• Edition: revised
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2010
• ISBN: 0226482049, 9780226482040
• Length: 480 pages