Treść książki

Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
ChapterI
LivesandWorksofOxfordCalculators
Thefourteenth-centuryEnglishthinkersactiveinOxfordformedthe
School,thesebeingtheso-calledOxfordCalculators,agatheringprevi-
ouslyknownastheMertonSchool,since-astheprecedenthistorians
ofsciencethought-itsmemberswereaffliatedwithMertonCollege.1
TwentiethcenturyscholarsweresurethatthefounderoftheSchoolof
OxfordCalculatorswasThomasBradwardine,whoin1328hadcom-
posedhisfamousTreatiseonRatiosofSpeedsinMotions(Tractatusdepropor-
tionibusvelocitatuminmotibus).Inthisworkheofferedtheso-calledNew
RuleofMotion,laterknownanddiscussedbythenextgenerationof
OxfordCalculatorsaswellasbycontinentalthinkersrightuptothe
sixteenthcentury.2ElżbietaJung’slonglastingresearch,however,has
revealedthatalreadybefore1328therewereintense,fruitfuldiscus-
sionsonthisissuebetweenthemembersofBaliolCollege,Oxford.The
anonymousauthorofDesexinconvenientibuswrittenafter1335mentions
twonames:ThomasBradwardineandAdamofPipewelle.3Bradwar-
dinewasalreadyfamousduringhislifetime,whilethesecondthinker
isalmostunknown-weonlyknowthathewasthememberofBaliol
Collegein1326.4Butyetwehaveaperfectwitnessofthosediscussions,
1SeeforexampleJ.A.Weisheiple,OckhamandsomeMertonians,uMedievalStudies”
30(1968),pp.163-213;Idem,OckhamandtheMertonians,[in:]uTheHistoryofthe
UniversityofOxford”,T.H.Aston(ed.),Oxford1984,pp.608-658;M.Clagett,
uTheScienceofMechanicsintheMiddleAges”,Wisconsin1959.
2
Thesecondaryliteratureonthissubjectissoextensivethatitisdiffculttomen-
tioneventhemostimportantworks.Inthefootnotesbelowtherearereferences
torelevantworks.
3
Seeinfra,Anonimus,Desexinconvenientibus,q.Utruminomnimotusitcertaservanda
velocitas,(Editions),§.95,p.334.
4
See,G.C.Brodrick,uMemorialsofMertonCollegewithbiographicalnotices
ofthewardensandfellows”,Oxford1884,p.195;A.B.Emden,uABiograph-
icalRegisteroftheUniversityofOxfordtoA.D.1500”,vol.III,PtoZ,Ox-
ford1959,p.1484;S.Rommevaux-Tani,Thestudyoflocalmotioninthe“Tracta-