The Nature of Natural Philosophy in the Late Middle Ages (Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy)

In this volume, distinguished scholar Edward Grant identifies the vital elements that contributed to the creation of a widespread interest in natural philosophy, which has been characterized as the "Great Mother of the Sciences." He discusses how natural philosophy emerged in Western Europe in the Middle Ages with Latin translations of Aristotle’s treatises on natural philosophy in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; with universities devoting arts curriculums to Aristotle’s rationalistic natural philosophy; and with Christian religious authorities coming to accept and even defend that philosophy.

Medieval natural philosophers, contrary to a common perception, did not slavishly follow Aristotle. Grant shows that they quite frequently disagreed with Aristotle and proposed their own solutions to many problems he raised. They did this by rejecting many of Aristotle’s explanations about real physical phenomena and replacing them with radically different interpretations. Concepts and ideas that Aristotle regarded as naturally impossible--the existence of other worlds, for example-- were also investigated and deemed possible and intelligible.

The product of many years of extensive research, the essays included in this volume offer a significant contribution to the nature of natural philosophy and its influence on the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century.