Aristoteles in Oxford: Wie das finstere Mittelalter die moderne Wissenschaft begründete

by John Freely, Ina Pfitzner (Translator)

Mehr als 1 000 Jahre vor Kopernikus, Galilei und Newton haben viele Gelehrte das Wissen der Antike bewahrt, Naturerscheinungen beobachtet und experimentiert. In einer glänzenden Kulturgeschichte lässt John Freely zum ersten Mal die faszinierenden Entdeckungen der mittelalterlichen Menschen Revue passieren. Brillant weist er nach, dass – entgegen unseren Vorstellungen – die Grundlagen der modernen Wissenschaft und zahlreicher moderner Theorien wesentlich früher gelegt wurden, ja viele Erkenntnisse im Mittelalter vorweggenommen wurden. Zugleich erzählt er von den vielen unbekannten Menschen, die sich erklären wollten, was in der Natur vor sich ging, und damit die wissenschaftliche Revolution der Moderne vorbereiteten. John Freely lässt uns das »finstere« Mittelalter mit neuen Augen sehen und erfüllt es mit neuem Leben.

Genres: History, Science, Nonfiction, History Of Science, Medieval History, Ebooks, Medieval

360 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 30, 2012

About the author

John Freely was born in 1926 in Brooklyn, New York to Irish immigrant parents, and spent half of his early childhood in Ireland. He dropped out of high school when he was 17 to join the U. S. Navy, serving for two years, including combat duty with a commando unit in the Pacific, India, Burma and China during the last year of World War II. After the war, he went to college on the G. I. Bill and eventually received a Ph.D. in physics from New York University, followed by a year of post-doctoral study at Oxford in the history of science. He worked as a research physicist for nine years, including five years at Princeton University. In 1960 he went to İstanbul to teach physics at the Robert College, now the Boğaziçi University, and taught there until 1976. He then went on to teach and write in Athens (1976-79), Boston (1979-87), London (1987-88), İstanbul (1988-91) and Venice (1991-93). In 1993 he returned to Boğaziçi University, where he taught a course on the history of science. His first book, co-authored by the late Hilary Sumner-Boyd, was Strolling Through İstanbul (1972). Since then he has published more than forty books.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good general view of the long line of scholars who paved the way leading to Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton and their great discoveries in what we now call "the Scientific Revolution." I would have liked more depth on the issues involved but author John Freely makes his point: there was a succession of men during that millenium we call "the Middle Ages" (500-1500) who set the stage for our Age of Science. And, for the most part, they have been forgotten or there is very little known about them.
I was familiar with Roger Bacon (c.1220-1292) but knew very little about him. This monk and scholar believed in scientific experiment as a way to gain knowledge. He was the disciple of a man I had never even heard of-- Robert Grosseteste (c.1175-1253). From humble beginnings in Suffolk, Grossetestehe rose to become "magister scholarum" or chancellor of Oxford (sometime around 1210). In his writings, he developed the methodology of science, based on Aristotle ( but he certainly did not agree with all of Aristotelianism) . He did experiments, particularly in optics. Most importantly, he believed it was impossible to understand the physical world without mathematics. Mathematics was needed for measurement, which provided a means to describe natural phenomena.
Freely regards Grosseteste as "the first modern physicist." At the same time, he was a Christian bishop and that meant his belief in Christian theology put constraints on his scientific theories.
We can see that the Scientific Revolution could only take off when a scientist like Galileo could challenge the Church, as he did with his support of the heliocentric model in astronomy ( that the Sun and not the Earth is the center of what we now call the solar system, an idea going back to Aristarchus of Samos in the 3rd century B.C. ). The Church supported the geocentric or Earth-centered model and censured Galileo, forbidding him promoting his model on pain of death, but it couldn't stop the progress of science. I think the printing press made a BIG difference by disseminating knowledge so widely that it made it much more difficult to suppress "forbidden" knowledge. It was also the time of the Reformation, when men were openly questioning and challenging the authority of the Catholic Church as never before. Although-and I hadn't known this--Martin Luther opposed heliocentrism, in my opinion, the Protestants were generally more open to new ideas--and the new science in general.
Freely presents us with a number of relatively unknown figures of medieval times ( many of whom were Islamic) who were important in the history of science. The last part of the book is about the work and discoveries of Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton. Newton's work indeed can be seen as the culmination of the long development of European science going back to the Ancient Greeks. As he said, he stood "on the shoulders of giants."

[Perry Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Freely's presentation of the history of scientific thought starts as a dry recitation of factual tidbits, occasionally of interest, but as often simply dry. As he progresses forward through the medieval period, Freely gradually picks up steam until, finally, we find glimmerings of life in the story, especially from about Albertus Magnus onward. Freely covers more ground, and more characters, than one would expect in a modest-length book on the subject, and not always to our benefit. It often comes across much as would a fair-to-middling modern text, skimming across the surface without adequate depth and development to maintain interest.

More unfortunate are the occasional errors of fact, most easily noted in minor errors of date, or in inconsistencies of spelling. In short, his editor let him down, it seems. The results are not disastrous, but more of the mildly disconcerting nature. On the whole, the book is of value for the breadth and general utility of the material presented, but it loses its mantle of authority; on no matter can it be considered the final word. Which is a shame, perhaps, for we do get convincing clues of the magnitude of Freely's love for his subject.

Recommended for the student of history, and especially history of science, in spite of its flaws.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

The topic is interesting... the writing was not.

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really in-depth look at what was going on in science during the Middle Ages. I limited myself to getting through the books, but all of the names and ideas could have sent me tumbling down rabbit holes left and right. Astronomy, metallurgy, alchemy, physics, geometry, math, ect.

I'm continually impressed by what people were capable of doing and discovering using the most primitive means at their disposal. We can all learn from that today.

I definitely could reread this or others similar. Also, Freely writes quite well. I need to seek out some of his other work.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was a vast amount of interesting tidbits in this book. This book made me think a lot and made me bore my children with a lot of questions to David (my husband) on his thoughts on such matters.

It's too bad it was presented in such a dry, list-driven style. The editing was very bad - so bad that even I noticed it, and I am not usually keyed in to such things.

I am sure the author is an absolutely fascinating person to have a conversation with. The book is, I will admit, quite difficult to get through.

I love the end - Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo! The giants of Renaissance science!

It does leave you wondering how so many people could believe in Aristotle's ideas for so very long. It also leaves you wondering how much faster science would have progressed WITHOUT the Catholic church (although the beginning of the book makes you wonder where science would be AT ALL without the monasteries of the earlier church!!).

Most memorable quote:
Adelard (1116-1142): I do not detract from god. Everything that is, is from him and because of him. But (nature) is not confused and without system and so far as human knowledge has progressed it should be given a hearing. Only when it fails utterly should there be a recourse to god.

[Cihan çiçek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tam istediğim dönemi anlatmıştı johnny hocamız.
Yorum sonra ...

[Rj Lesch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not finish. Tedious. Interesting thesis, but lost my interest.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Freely provides an in depth historical review of science and the advent of scientific reasoning from the Greek thought, much of which was lost with the demise of the Roman Empire and the burning of the library in Alexandria, to to Galileo and Isaac Newton. At first its a bit descriptive, but the plot thickens with Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo and Newton. Their genius, bent for experimentation, battle with conventional thought and run ins with the Catholic Church make this an exciting story. Good review of science for those who, like myself, need it!

[Ray Gates · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed this book on the whole, it could have been so much better. I agree with most of the criticisms listed by 'Steve'. The book seems to have been rushed. It could use maps to illustrate the places referenced, and charts to cross-reference the events happening in parallel, and better editing to fix the typos and remove repetition. The book requires effort, but has a mountain of information buried in it.

[Clare]

HS to review @ www.GoodReadingGuide.com

[Drew Swearingen]

Good read, just glad I didn't ave to read it out loud.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fascinating topic, and very interesting, but it's just so poorly written that it's very distracting - and even more poorly edited.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a meta study of the history of science, with in-depth looks at some Christian early scientists, but nothing from Asia and just a little from the middle east.

[Lynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish it. The prose was so disjointed and stilted I had to stop.

[K. Y. · Rating 3 out of 5]

ideas are not well-connected. writing is uninteresting. typos and mis-spellings of names reveal a lack of thorough research in some areas.

[Kit]

Very interesting book, following the genealogy of thought from the ancients through Newton. At times, though, succeeding paragraphs present a great panoply of minor figures, each of whom made small but important contributions to the flow of knowledge through time. I learned after a few chapters to hang in there through this detail because the author always shows how each contributor mattered, though at times such listings of details seemed rather like reading the Begats in the New Testament. Overall, the book left me with a great sense of the continuity of ideas that take form in the shared mind, though people come and go with the story. This became for me a keen portrait of those giants on whose shoulders Newton stood.