The Measure of Reality: Quantification and Western Society, 1250-1600

ISBN-13: 9780521554275 / Angielski / Twarda / 1996 / 245 str.

Alfred W. Crosby

Opis

Western Europeans were among the first, if not the first, to invent mechanical clocks, geometrically precise maps, double-entry bookkeeping, precise algebraic and musical notations, and perspective painting. More people in Western Europe thought quantitatively in the sixteenth century than in any other part of the world, enabling them to become the world's leaders. With amusing detail and historical anecdote, Alfred Crosby discusses the shift from qualitative to quantitative perception that occurred during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Alfred W. Crosby is the author of five books, including the award-winning Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 (Cambridge, 1986)

Recenzje

'Western Europe did remake itself during that thousand years in a way that no other culture in the world did - or even attempted to do. And that is the transformation addressed in a very accessible and readable way by Crosby's stimulating, wide-ranging study of the intellectual development of the medieval West.' Richard Holt, The New York Times Book Review

Spis treści

Part I. Pantometria Achieved: 1. Pantometria, an introduction; 2. The venerable model; 3. Necessary, but insufficient; 4. Time; 5. Space; 6. Mathematics; Part II. Striking the Match: Visualization: 7. Visualization, an introduction; 8. Music; 9. Painting; 10. Bookkeeping; Part III. The New Model.