Post by peterdamian on Nov 3, 2010 9:52:46 GMT
I finally managed to get hold of John Longeway's book (Demonstration and Scientific Knowledge in William of Ockham, see here ocham.blogspot.com/2010/10/longeway-on-ockham-on-science.html and here ocham.blogspot.com/2010/11/why-light-passes-through-glass.html for a continuing discussion).
I've only just started, but it looks promising, and I can recommend it already. It is a translation (the first into English, despite the fact that Ockham was English himself) of an important part of Ockham's Summa Logicae. Longeway provides a lengthy introduction (more than 100 pages) involving a detailed history of how scientific thought - or rather thought about scientific methodology - evolved as Aristotle's works were recovered in the West from the 12th to the late 13th and early 14th centuries. He begins with Grosseste's theory of demonstration, which was influenced by the Augustinian theory of illuminationism, and shows how these early ideas interplay with and influence the later thinking of Aquinas, Scotus and others, and especially Ockham. It is a fascinating study of the relationship between religion and science.
I have to say, however, that Longeway's analysis suggest a possibly greater antagonism between science and religion than readers of this forum would prefer. On the other hand, the truth is always more complex than any simple explanation, and, besides, I have only reached p. 30.
I've only just started, but it looks promising, and I can recommend it already. It is a translation (the first into English, despite the fact that Ockham was English himself) of an important part of Ockham's Summa Logicae. Longeway provides a lengthy introduction (more than 100 pages) involving a detailed history of how scientific thought - or rather thought about scientific methodology - evolved as Aristotle's works were recovered in the West from the 12th to the late 13th and early 14th centuries. He begins with Grosseste's theory of demonstration, which was influenced by the Augustinian theory of illuminationism, and shows how these early ideas interplay with and influence the later thinking of Aquinas, Scotus and others, and especially Ockham. It is a fascinating study of the relationship between religion and science.
I have to say, however, that Longeway's analysis suggest a possibly greater antagonism between science and religion than readers of this forum would prefer. On the other hand, the truth is always more complex than any simple explanation, and, besides, I have only reached p. 30.
