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LivesandWorksofOxfordCalculators
35
thatthewholeLibercalculationummusthadbeenintendedfromthevery
beginningasaconsistentandcompletecompendiumonbasicnatural
philosophicalissues.74
Thefrstimpressiononegetsafteracloserlookatthereasonings
includedinanypartoftheuBookofcalculations”istheirlogico-mathe-
maticalcomplexityontheonehand,andnoobviousnordirectrelation
tothecommonexperience,ontheother.Ingeneral,onlythetechniques
forcalculatingthechangesofphysicalvariablesorforunravellingthe
sophismsaboutsuchchangesareprovided,withnoexplanationasto
how,andforwhatpurposethesecouldbeusedinthedescriptionof
realnaturalphenomena.RichardSwinesheadrarely,ifever,tookthe
troubleofexplainingthebasicsorsourcesoftheoriesunderlyingthe
methodsheused.WithinthewholetextofLibercalculationumheexplic-
itlyreferredonlytwicetoEuclid’sandoncetoBoethius’andAverroes’
works,respectively.WhencomparedwithJohnDumbleton’sSumma
logicaeetphilosophiaenaturalis,describedabove,RichardSwineshead’s
uBookofcalculations”givestheimpressionofanacademichandbook
intendedforadvancedstudentsorreadersalreadywellacquaintedwith
thetheoriesandsolutionsproposed,forexample,inDumbleton’strea-
tise.75Mostprobablytheabove-mentionedfeaturesofLibercalculationum
causedsuchanaversioninhumanistthinkerslikeErmolaoBarbaro,
LeonardoBruniorPietroPomponazziforthetreatisetoberecognized
assophisticasquisquiliasetsuiseticainania.76Theverysamefeaturesof
RichardSwineshead’smainworkwerehighlyappraisedbyCardanoand
Leibniz,andthat-inouropinion-clearlydelineatesthenarrowcircle
ofitsintendedrecipients.
Inthethirdchapterofthepresenttometheuscienceoflocalmotion”
developedbyRichardSwinesheadwillbepresentedindetailonthebasis
ofthecontentsofchapterXIVuOnlocalmotion”,chapterXVuOn
non-resistingmedium”,andchapterXuOnmaximumandminimum”
oftheuBookofcalculations”.Alsowewillrefertotheabove-men-
74SeeR.Podkoński,Suiseticainania...,pp.133-140.
75AtleastwithrespecttoDumbleton’sstatementsconcerningthepropagationof
lightandtheproper‘measurement’ofitsintensityitseemscertainthatRichard
SwinesheadintendedtocorrectandsupplementhistheorywithintheuBookof
calculations”(seeR.Podkoński,RichardSwineshead)sDeluminosis:naturalphilos-
ophy…,pp.366-375).
76SeeJ.E.Murdoch,E.D.Sylla,uSwineshead”,p.209.