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LivesandWorksofOxfordCalculators
33
latterwasatleastperfunctorilyacquaintedwiththereasoningsincluded
inSwineshead’streatise.68InthelateeighteenthcenturyJacobBrucker
inhisHistoriacriticaphilosophiaequotedashortpassagefromtheuBook
ofcalculations”aswellasnumerousfragmentsfromotherauthorsre-
ferringtoSwineshead’sconclusions.69Cantor’slatenineteenthcentury
uHistoryofmathematics”onlymentionsthethinker’sname,butthanks
toPierreDuhemandLynnThorndike’spioneeringinvestigationonlate
medievalscienceRichardSwinesheadhasgradually,fromthebeginning
ofthetwentiethcentury,regainedhisrightfulplaceinthehistoryof
medievalnaturalphilosophy.70Itisworthmentioningherethatitwas
RichardSwineshead’straditionalsobriquet:theCalculator,thatserved
EdithSyllatoestablishthenameuOxfordCalculatorsschool”forthese
fourteenth-centuryOxfordthinkerswhointroducedthecalculusofra-
tiosintotheirphilosophicalanalyses.71
TheuBookofcalculations”concernsonlynaturalphilosophicalis-
sueslimited,infact,totheproblemsofthe‘measurement’ofaltera-
tion,augmentationandlocalmotiononthegeneralbackgroundofthe
Aristotelianlawsrelatingtothesublunarworld.Therangeoftopics
discussedisbestreflectedbythetitlesofchapters(ortreatises)included
inthiswork:
TreatiseI:Deintensioneetremissione(Onintensionandremission).
Tr.II:Dedifformibus(Ondifformlyqualifedsubjects).
Tr.III:Deintensioneelementi(Ontheintensionofanelement).
Tr.IV:Deintensioneetremissionemixtorum(Ontheintensionandremis-
sionofmixedsubjects).
Tr.V:Deraritateetdensitate(Onrarityanddensity).
Tr.VI:Develocitatemotusaugmentationis(Onthevelocityofaugmentation).
ediscriptaJoh.Suiseth,vulgodictiCalculatoris,quiMathesininphilosophiam
scholasticamintroduxitu.
68SeeuLeibnizensGessamelteWerke,ausdenHandschriftenderKöniglichen
BibliothekzuHannover”,G.H.Pertz(ed.),B.IV.Halle1859,pp.18-38.
69SeeJ.Brucker,uHistoriacriticaphilosophiae”,III,Leipzig1766,pp.849-853.
70SeeL.Thorndike,Calculator,uSpeculum”VII2(1932),pp.221-224.
71ThisinformalgroupwasknownearlierastheuMertonschool”orsimplythe
uMertonians”afterthetitleofThomasBradwardine’sgargantuantheological
treatiseDecausaDeicontraPelagianum…adsuosMertonenses.Syllaintroducedthis
newnameasbeingmoreadequate,sincenotallofthesethinkerswerefel-
lowsofMertonCollege,Oxford(seeE.D.Sylla,uTheOxfordCalculators…”,
pp.540-541).