Medieval Explanations and Interpretations of the Dictum that ‘Nature Abhors a Vacuum’
Of the numerous real and hypothetical experimental illustrations invoked against the existence of natural and artifical vacua during the Latin Middle Ages, two may be singled out as especially prominent: the clepsydra and the separation of two surfaces. The descriptions and explanations of these two...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
1973
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| In: |
Traditio
Year: 1973, Volume: 29, Pages: 327-355 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Of the numerous real and hypothetical experimental illustrations invoked against the existence of natural and artifical vacua during the Latin Middle Ages, two may be singled out as especially prominent: the clepsydra and the separation of two surfaces. The descriptions and explanations of these two popular experiments will serve as the focus of this paper, since they strikingly exemplify the kinds of arguments and the often ad hoc character of the medieval defense of Aristotle's contention that nature is a material plenum. Medieval authors, with perhaps one exception, denied the actual existence in the world of separate, continuously extended vacua, however small or large. |
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| ISSN: | 2166-5508 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Traditio
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0362152900009004 |