Mathematical Procedures within Natural Philosophy. The Issue of Velocity in the Generation of Forms According to the 14th Century Treatise "De Sex Inconvenientibus" Cover Image

Metody matematyczne w badaniach z zakresu filozofii przyrody. Problem szybkości powstawania form w XIV-wiecznym traktacie "De sex inconvenientibus"
Mathematical Procedures within Natural Philosophy. The Issue of Velocity in the Generation of Forms According to the 14th Century Treatise "De Sex Inconvenientibus"

Author(s): Joanna Papiernik
Subject(s): Philosophy of Middle Ages
Published by: Instytut Tomistyczny
Keywords: Oxford Calculators; William Heytesbury; De sex inconvenientibus; motion; generation of forms; qualitative alteration

Summary/Abstract: The anonymous treatise "De sex inconvenientibus" was written by an author who presumably belonged to the group of Oxford Calculators (it is assumed that he was William Heytesbury’s student). The four questions discussed in this text concern the velocities in the process of generation (De generatione), motion of alteration (De motu alterationis), motion of augmentation (De motu augmentationis) and in the local motion (De motu locali). The fragment of the first question, presented above, regards the problem of measuring velocity in the generation of forms of the elements. It is a good example of the application of some mathematical procedures in the Aristotelian-Averroean physics, which was characteristic for the Oxford Calculators. The translated part shows also the important dependence of "De sex inconvenientibus" on William Heytesbury’s "De tribus praedicamentis" (the sixth chapter of his treatise "Regulae solvendi sophismata").

  • Issue Year: 2017
  • Issue No: XXIII
  • Page Range: 95-145
  • Page Count: 51
  • Language: Polish, Latin