‘It Makes No Difference’: Optics and Natural Philosophy in Late Antiquity

Berryman, Sylvia

doi:10.1515/apeiron-2012-0001

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…We could see this tension in different lights: it might seem comparable to the tension between the lower status practitioner and the intellectually ambitious theorist who embellished his/her work by presenting it in a respected style of presentation, as in medicine. Alternatively, it could be a manifestation of the kind of strategy adopted by some optical theorists, reluctant to become embroiled in insoluble philosophical debates about the direction of travel in physical theories of vision (Berryman 2012). The attempt to integrate geometrical optics into a larger theoretical picture was simply an impediment, since ‘it makes no difference’ to the geometry of perspective what direction the physical theory assumed.…”

Section: Methods In Ancient Sciencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ideology, inquiry, and antiquity: a critical notice of Lloyd’s The Ideals of Inquiry: An Ancient History

Berryman

2015

Can. J. of Philosophy

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A discussion of Lloyd’s Tarner Lectures at Trinity College. The importance of Lloyd’s previous scholarship is characterized and these sweeping, erudite lectures are placed in the context of that scholarship. In the broadest terms, the lectures are a call to culturally and historically comparative study of human reasoning. At their heart is a comparative history of scientific theorizing from the ancients through to modern science. Lloyd rejects the positivist picture, and the view of modern and ancient science as discontinuous; he urges scholars to undertake comparative work on the ancient sciences in different traditions. This critical notice evaluates Lloyd’s view and raises several questions for further reflection.

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Section: Methods In Ancient Sciencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ideology, inquiry, and antiquity: a critical notice of Lloyd’s The Ideals of Inquiry: An Ancient History

Berryman

2015

Can. J. of Philosophy

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“…To these examples we should also add that of the different colours of the rainbow, though this is a more complicated phenomenon, since it involves, in Aristotle's view, the reflection of our vision (Meteor. 373a32-375b15); cf Berryman (2012)…”

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confidence: 99%

Aristotle and Alexander of Aphrodisias on Colour

Ierodiakonou

2018

Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind

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The aim of this paper is to unravel Aristotle's reasoning with regard to the ontological status of colours; also, to get a better understanding of his views on the production of the whole spectrum of colours; and finally, to evaluate the explanatory power of his theory of colours. The texts I mainly draw my evidence from is Aristotle's De sensu 3 and the relevant passages from the De anima as well as from other Aristotelian treatises; in addition, I use for my interpretation remarks made by Alexander of Aphrodisias in his commentary on the De sensu, in his Quaestiones and in the dubious treatise Mantissa.

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Γνωστικῶς and / or ὑλικῶς: Philoponus’ Account of the Material Aspects of Sense-Perception

Lautner

2013

Phronesis

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The paper aims to show that Philoponus' theory of sense-perception does not fit in with the spititualist claim that the sensory process does not involve an extta matetial change in the sense-organ. Both the specific sense-otgans (like the vitteous liquid and chotoid ot cotneal membrane in the eyes) and the ptimary sense-organ (like the optic pneuma) conttact ot expand in the petceptual ptocess. On the othet hand, the litetalist claim needs to be modified as well since only the tactile sense-organ (flesh) takes on the relevant qualities. Gonttaction ot expansion in the sense-organ is ttiggeted, not by physical changes in the medium, but by the fotmal activities atising from the perceptible objects: colouts make the visual sense-organ conttact ot expand. At the level of sense-otgans, the physiological ptocess undetlying sense-petception has thtee stages. The change in specific sense-otgan will be transmitted to the ptimaty sense-organ of the particulat sense (optic/acoustic pneuma), and then teaches the common sense-otgan, the pneuma. The primary sense-organs are spatially distinguishable parts of the common sense-otgan which is otherwise homogeneous, not allowing fot qualitative diffetences. The homogeneity of the pneuma establishes the unity of sense-petception at the level of physiological processes.

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‘It Makes No Difference’: Optics and Natural Philosophy in Late Antiquity

Cited by 4 publications

References 9 publications

Ideology, inquiry, and antiquity: a critical notice of Lloyd’s The Ideals of Inquiry: An Ancient History

Ideology, inquiry, and antiquity: a critical notice of Lloyd’s The Ideals of Inquiry: An Ancient History

Aristotle and Alexander of Aphrodisias on Colour

Γνωστικῶς and / or ὑλικῶς: Philoponus’ Account of the Material Aspects of Sense-Perception

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