The Oxford Calculators in Context

Bibliographic Data

ID4516499
AuthorsEdith Dudley Sylla (North Carolina State University, corresponding author), Edith Sylla
Year1987
Volume1
Issue2
Pages257-279
Publication date1987-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience in Context (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0269-8897 • E-ISSN: 1474-0664
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0269889700000387
OpenAlexW2169652550
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited39

The ArgumentOur understanding of the predisposing factors, the nature, and the fate of the Oxford Calculatory tradition can be significantly increased by seeing it in its social and institutional context. For instance, the use of intricate imaginary cases in Calculatory works becomes more understandable if we see the connection of these works to undergraduate logical disputations. Likewise, the demise of the Calculatory tradition is better understood in the light of subsequent efforts at educational reform.Unfortunately, too little evidence remains about the Calculators and their context to enable anything like a full reconstruction of the relation of the Oxford Calculators' work to its context. Nevertheless, seeking out and fitting together the bits of information that do remain can add to our insight. Among the topics worth further research are the relation of training incalculationesto later careers in church or government, and the special features of the Calculatory tradition as a tradition consisting of multiple parallel manifestations closely interconnected with other disciplines, ranging from logic and natural philosophy to theology and medicine

Demise · Epistemology · Linguistics · Political science · Sociology · Classics · Computer Science · Historical Philosophy and Science · History · History and Theory of Mathematics · Law · Medicine · Philosophy

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