PerspectivaDavid Lindberg presents the first critical edition of the text of Roger Bacon's classic work Perspectiva, prepared from Latin manuscripts, accompanied by a facing-page English translation, critical notes, and a full study of the text. Also included is an analysis of Bacon's sources, influence, and role in the emergence of the discipline of perspectiva. About Roger Bacon: Roger Bacon (c.1220-c.1292) is one of the most renowned thinkers of the Middle Ages, a philosopher-scientist praised and mythologized for his attack on authority and his promotion of what he called experimental science. He was a leading figure in the intellectual life of the thirteenth century, a campaigner for educational reform, and a major disseminator of Greek and Arabic natural philosophy and mathematical science. About Perspectiva: The science that Roger Bacon most fully mastered was perspectiva, the study of light and vision (what would later become the science of optics). His great treatment of the subject, the Perspectiva, written in about 1260, was the first book by a European to display a full mastery of Greek and Arabic treatises on the subject, and through it Bacon was instrumental in defining this scientific discipline for the next 350 years. |
Common terms and phrases
accidit aere Alhacen alia angle angulo anima anterioris aperture apparet appear Aristotle aspectibus autem Averroes Avicenna Bacon capitulum cathetus centre centrum colour common nerve communis convex cornea cuius dicit distantia docet eius enim ergo erit et del etiam fols geometrical glacial humour habet ideo igitur interl licet light Lindberg magis manuscripts medio medium mirror nisi oculi oculo oculus oportet quod optic optic nerve Opus maius patet perpendicular Perspectiva possunt potest preter primum propter Ptolemy pyramid quam quia quod quoniam rays refraction respectu Roger Bacon scilicet secundo secundum sense sensibles sensus sicut sight similiter sint speciem species speculis sphere sunt super superius surface tamen terminate vision tertium Theories of Vision things tunc tunics usque uvea uvee vero videtur visibilis visible object visual visum visus vitreous humour Witelo