The Age of Reason associated with the names of Descartes, Newton, Hobbes, and the French philosophers, actually began in the universities that first emerged in the late Middle Ages (1100 to 1600) when the first large scale institutionalization of reason in the history of civilization occurred. This study shows how reason was used in the university subjects of logic, natural philosophy, and theology, and to a much lesser extent in medicine and law. The final chapter describes how the Middle Ages acquired an undeserved reputation as an age of superstition, barbarism, and unreason.

Originally published in 1987, this important synthesis represented the first effort by modern scholars to convey the variety of ways in which medieval scientists and natural philosophers used mathematics and mathematical modes of thought to describe natural phenomena. Eleven distinguished historians of science contributed original essays on the application of mathematics to natural philosophy, astronomy, cosmology, optics and medicine. The book is a fitting tribute to Professor Marshall Clagett of The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, for his significant contributions to the history of...

This book is a collection of some of the papers that were presented during aNATO Advanced Research Workshop held in Kusadasi, Turkey, August 24-28, 1992. Attendance at this workshop was mainly by invitation only, drawing people representing industry, government and the academic community. Many of the participants were internationally recognized leaders in the topic of the workshop. The papers in the volume are grouped in six parts, with a balance of theory and applications. Some papers provide introductory and overview material as well as reviews of the state of the art and others provide...