HISTORY OF SCIENCE: When Did Modern Science Begin?

Author(s): EDWARD GRANT

Source: The American Scholar , Winter 1997, Vol. 66, No. 1 (Winter 1997), pp. 105-113
Published by: The Phi Beta Kappa Society

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41212592

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 HISTORY OF SCIENCE

When Did Modern Science Begin?

EDWARD GRANT

Although science has a long history with

holds that modern science emerged in the sev-
enteenth
roots in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it is century by repudiating and aban-
indisputable that modern science emerged doning in
medieval science and natural philoso-
Western Europe and nowhere else. The phy, rea-
the latter based on the works of Aristotle.
sons for this momentous occurrence must, The scientific revolution appeared first in
therefore, be sought in some unique setastronomy,
of cosmology, and physics in the
circumstances that differentiate Western soci- course of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
turies. Whether or not the achievements of
ety from other contemporary and earlier civili-
medieval science exercised any influence on
zations. The establishment of science as a ba-
sic enterprise within a society dependsthese on developments is irrelevant. What must
more than expertise in technical scientific be emphasized, however, is that the momen-
tous changes in the exact sciences of physics
subjects, experiments, and disciplined obser-
vations. After all, science can be found in and astronomy that epitomized the scientific
revolution did not develop from a vacuum.
many early societies. In Islam, until approxi-
mately 1500, mathematics, astronomy, geo- They could not have occurred without certain
metric optics, and medicine were more highlyfoundational events that were unique prod-
developed than in the West. But science was ucts of the late Middle Ages. To realize this,
not institutionalized in Islamic society. Nor
we must inquire whether a scientific revolu-
was it institutionalized in ancient and medi- tion could have occurred in the seventeenth
century if the level of science in Western Eu-
eval China, despite significant achievements.
rope had remained much as it was in the first
Similar arguments apply to all other societies
and civilizations. Science can be found inhalf of the twelfth century, before the trans-
many of them but was institutionalized formation
and that occurred as a consequence of a
perpetuated in none. great wave of translations from the Greek and
Why did science as we know it todayArabicmateri- languages into Latin that began
alize only in Western society? Whataround made1150 it and continued on to the end of
possible for science to acquire prestige and the thirteenth century. Could a scientific revo-
influence and to become a powerful lution forcehavein occurred in the seventeenth cen-
Western Europe by the seventeenth century? tury if the immense translations of Greco-Ara-
The answer, I believe, lies in certain funda- bic (or Greco-Islamic) science and natural
mental events that occurred in Western Eu- philosophy into Latin had never taken place?
rope during the period from approximately Obviously not. Without those translations,
1175 to 1500. Those events, taken together, many centuries would have been required be-
should be viewed as forming the foundations fore Western Europe could have reached the
of modern science, a judgment that level runs of Greco-Arabic science. Instead of the
counter to prevailing scholarly opinion,scientific
which revolution of the seventeenth cen-
tury, our descendants might look back upon a
"Scientific Revolution of the Twenty-first Cen-
О EDWARD GRANT is Distinguished Professor
tury."atBut the translations did occur in the
Emeritus of History and Philosophy of Science
Indiana University, Bloomington. twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and so did a

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 THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR

scientific revolution in the seventeenth cen- Ages because the evolution of medieval Latin
tury. It follows that something happenedsociety
be- allowed for the separate existence of
tween, say, 1175 and 1500 that paved the church
way and state, each of which, in turn, rec-
for that scientific revolution. What that "some- ognized the independence of corporate enti-
thing" was is my subject here. ties, the university among them. The first uni-
To describe how the late Middle Ages in
versities, of Paris, Oxford, and Bologna, were
Western Europe played a role in producing
in existence by approximately 1200, shortly af-
the scientific revolution in the physical ter
sci-most of the translations had been com-
ences during the seventeenth century, two pleted.
as- The translations furnished a ready-
pects of science need to be distinguished, the
made curriculum to the emerging universities,
contextual and the substantive. The first - the
a curriculum that was overwhelmingly com-
contextual - involves changes that created an of the exact sciences, logic, and natural
posed
atmosphere conducive to the establishment of
philosophy.
The curriculum of science, logic, and natu-
science, made it feasible to pursue science and
natural philosophy on a permanent basis, andral philosophy established in the medieval
universities of Western Europe was a perma-
made those pursuits laudable activities within
nent fixture for approximately 450 to 500
Western society. The second aspect - the sub-
stantive - pertains to certain features of medi-
years. It was the curriculum of the arts faculty,
which was the largest of the traditional four
eval science and natural philosophy that were
faculties of a typical major university, the
instrumental in bringing about the scientific
revolution. others being medicine, theology, and law.
The creation of an environment in the Courses in logic, natural philosophy, geom-
Middle Ages that eventually made a scientific etry, and astronomy formed the core curricu-
revolution possible involved at least three lum for the baccalaureate and master of arts
cru-
cial preconditions. The first of thesedegrees was theand were taught on a regular basis for
translation of Greco-Arabic science and natu- centuries. These two arts degrees were virtual
ral philosophy into Latin during the twelfth prerequisites for entry into the higher disci-
and thirteenth centuries. Without this initial,
plines of law, medicine, and theology.
indispensable precondition, the other two
For the first time in the history of the world,
might not have occurred. With the transfer
anof
institution had been created for teaching
this large body of learning to the Western
science, natural philosophy, and logic. An ex-
world, the old science of the early Middle
tensive four-to-six-year course in higher educa-
Ages was overwhelmed and superseded. tion
Al- was based on those subjects, with natural
though modern science might eventually have
philosophy as the most important component.
developed in the West without the introduc-
As universities multiplied during the thir-
tion of Greco-Arabic science, its advent would
teenth to fifteenth centuries, the same sci-
have been delayed by centuries. ence-natural philosophy-logic curriculum was
The second precondition was the formationdisseminated throughout Europe, extending
as far east as Poland.
of the medieval university, with its corporate
structure and control over its varied activities. The science curriculum could not have
The universities that emerged by the thir-
been implemented without the explicit ap-
proval of church and state. To a remarkable
teenth century in Paris, Oxford, and Bologna
were different from anything the world hadextent, both granted to the universities corpo-
ever seen. From these beginnings, the medi-
rate powers to regulate themselves: universi-
eval university took root and has endured as had the legal right to determine their own
ties
an institution for some eight hundred years, curricula, to establish criteria for the degrees
being transformed in time into a worldwide of their students, and to determine the teach-
phenomenon. Nothing in Islam or China, or fitness of their faculty members.
ing
India, or in the ancient civilizations of South Despite some difficulties and tensions be-
America is comparable to the medieval univer- tween natural philosophy and theology - be-
sity. It is in this remarkable institution, and its tween, essentially, reason and revelation - arts
unusual activities, that the foundations of masters and theologians at the universities
modern science must be sought. welcomed the arrival of Aristotle's natural phi-
The university was possible in the Middle
losophy as evidenced by the central role they

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 WHEN DID MODERN SCIENCE BEGIN?

the state
gave it in higher education. Why did they do religion enabled Christianity to ad-
justheight
this? Why did a Christian society at the to the pagan society around it. In the sec-
of the Catholic Church's power readily ond adopt
half of the third century, Christian apolo-
a pagan natural philosophy as the basis of a
gists concluded that Christianity could profit-
four-to-six-year education? Why didn't ably utilize pagan Greek philosophy and
Chris-
tians fear and resist such pagan fare learning.
ratherIn a momentous move, Clement of
than embrace it? Alexandria (ca. 150-ca. 215) and his disciple
Because Christians had long ago come to Origen of Alexandria (ca. 185-ca. 254) laid
terms with pagan thought and were agreed, down the basic approach that others would
follow. Greek philosophy, they argued, was
for the most part, that they had little or noth-
ing to fear from it. The rapprochement not be- inherently good or bad, but one or the
other depending on how it was used by Chris-
tween Christianity and pagan literature, espe-
tians. Although the Greek poets and philoso-
cially philosophy, may have been made fea-
phers had not received direct revelation from
sible by the slowness with which Christianity
was disseminated. The spread of ChristianityGod, they did receive natural reason and were
beyond the Holy Land and its surrounding therefore pointed toward truth. Philosophy -
and secular learning in general - could thus
region began in earnest after Saint Paul pros-
be used to interpret Christian wisdom, which
elytized the Gentile world, especially Greece,
during the middle of the first century. In was
ret- the fruit of revelation. They were agreed
rospect - and by comparison with the spread that philosophy and science could be used as
of Islam - the pace of the dissemination"handmaidens
of to theology" - that is, as aids to
understanding Holy Scripture - an attitude
Christianity appears quite slow. Not until 300
that had already been advocated by Philo
A.D. was Christianity effectively represented
throughout the Roman Empire. And not until Judaeus, a resident of the Jewish community
of Alexandria, early in the first century A.D.
313, in the reign of Constantine, was the Edict
of Milan (or Edict of Toleration) issued, The "handmaiden" concept of Greek learn-
ing became the standard Christian attitude to-
which conferred on Christianity full legal equal-
ity with all other religions in the Empire. In ward secular learning by the middle of the
392, Christianity was made the state religion fourth century. That Christians chose to ac-
of the Roman Empire. In that year, the Em- cept pagan learning within limits was a mo-
peror Theodosius ordered all pagan temples mentous decision. They might have heeded
closed, and also prohibited pagan worship,the words of Tertullian (ca. 150-ca. 225), who
thereafter classified as treason. Thus it was not asked pointedly: "What indeed has Athens to
until 392 that Christianity became the exclu- do with Jerusalem? What concord is there be-
sive religion supported by the state. After al-tween the Academy and the Church?" With
most four centuries of existence, Christianity the total triumph of Christianity at the end of
was triumphant. the fourth century, the Church might have
By contrast, Islam, following the death of reacted adversely toward Greek pagan learn-
Mohammad in 632, was carried over an enor- ing in general, and Greek philosophy in par-
mous geographical area in a remarkably shortticular, since there was much in the latter that
time. In less than one hundred years, it was was offensive to the Church. They might even
the dominant religion from the Arabian pen-have launched a major effort to suppress pa-
insula westward to the Straits of Gibraltar, gan thought as a danger to the Church and its
northward to Spain and eastward to Persia, doctrines. But they did not.
and beyond. But where Islam was largely The handmaiden theory was obviously a
spread by conquest during its first hundred compromise between the rejection of tradi-
tional pagan learning and its full acceptance.
years, Christianity spread slowly and, with the
exception of certain periods of persecution,By approaching secular learning with caution,
relatively peacefully. It was this slow percola- Christians could utilize Greek philosophy - es-
tion of Christianity that enabled it to come topecially metaphysics and logic - to better un-
terms with the pagan world and thus prepare derstand and explicate Holy Scripture and to
itself for a role that could not have been envi- cope with the difficulties generated by the as-
sioned by its early members. sumption of the doctrine of the Trinity and
The time it took before Christianity becameother esoteric dogmas. Ordinary daily life also

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 THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR

required use of the mundane sciencescation such of as scriptural texts to support or oppose
astronomy and mathematics. Christians scientific
came ideas and theories. Theologians
to realize that they could not turn away from
rarely permitted theology to hinder their in-
Greek learning. quiries into the physical world. If there was
When Christians in Western Europe anybe-temptation to produce a "Christian sci-
came aware of Greco-Arabic scientific litera- ence," they successfully resisted it. Although
ture and were finally prepared to receive it in
biblical texts were often cited in natural phi-
the twelfth century, they did so eagerly. losophy,
They they were not used to demonstrate
did not view it as a body of subversive knowl-scientific truths by appeal to divine authority.
edge. Despite a degree of resistance that was The relatively small degree of trauma that
more intense at some times than at others, accompanied Greco-Arabic science and natu-
Aristotle's works were made the basis of the ral philosophy into Western Europe, and the
university curriculum by 1255 in Paris,subsequent
and high status that science and natu-
long before that at Oxford. ral philosophy achieved in Western thought, is
The emergence of a class of theologian-
attributable in no small measure to theolo-
natural philosophers was the third essential gian-natural philosophers of this kind. Some
precondition for the scientific revolution. of the most significant contributors to science
Their major contribution was to sanction and mathematics came from their ranks:
the
introduction and use of Aristotelian natural Albertus Magnus, Robert Grosseteste, John
philosophy in the curriculum of the new uni-Pecham, Theodoric of Freiberg, Thomas
Bradwardine, Nicole Oresme, and Henry of
versities. Without that approval, natural phi-
losophy and science could not have become Langenstein. Theologians used natural phi-
the curriculum of the medieval universities. losophy so extensively in their theological
The development of a class of theologian- treatises that, from time to time, the Church
natural philosophers must be regarded as had ex-to admonish them to refrain from frivo-
traordinary. Not only did most theologians lously
ap- using natural philosophy to resolve
theological problems. Although there were
prove of an essentially secular arts curriculum,
but they were convinced that natural philoso- occasional theological reactions against natu-
phy was essential for the elucidation of theol-
ral philosophy - as in the early thirteenth cen-
ogy. Students entering schools of theology tury when Aristotle's works were banned for
were expected to have achieved a high level some years at Paris, and in the later thirteenth
of competence in natural philosophy. Since
century when the bishop of Paris issued the
a master of arts degree, or the equivalent
Condemnation of 1277 - they were relatively
thereof, signified a thorough backgroundminor
in aberrations when viewed against the
Aristotelian natural philosophy, and since a
grand sweep and scope of the history of West-
master's degree in the arts was usually a pre-
ern Christianity.
requisite for admittance to the higher facultyTo appreciate the importance of a class of
of theology, almost all theologians can be said
theologian-natural philosophers for the devel-
to have acquired extensive knowledge of natu-opment of science and natural philosophy in
ral philosophy. Many undoubtedly regarded the it Latin West, one has only to compare the
as worthy of study in itself and not merely Western reception of natural philosophy with
because of its traditional role as the hand- its treatment in the civilization of Islam, where
maiden of theology. religious authorities regarded the study of
If theologians at the universities had chosen
natural philosophy as potentially dangerous to
to oppose Aristotelian learning as dangerous the faith. Despite the fact that for many centu-
to the faith, it could not have become the ries - say, from the ninth to the end of the
fifteenth - the level of science in the civiliza-
center of study at the university. But medieval
theologians interrelated natural philosophy tion of Islam, especially the exact sciences and
and theology with relative ease and confi- medicine, far exceeded that of Western Eu-
dence, whether this involved the application rope, Aristotelian natural philosophy encoun-
tered many obstacles. Because of fears that
of science and natural philosophy to scriptural
exegesis, the application of the concept of
natural philosophy might subvert the faith,
God's absolute power to hypothetical possibili-
and perhaps for other reasons as well, natural
philosophy and also the exact sciences were
ties in the natural world, or the frequent invo-

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 WHEN DID MODERN SCIENCE BEGIN?

never institutionalized in Islam and thus never

these sciences was maintained, so that the
Copernicuses, Galileos, and Keplers of the
made a regular part of the educational process.
By contrast, the universities that werenew science had something to study, some-
founded in the West European Middle Ages thing to which they might react and alter for
preserved and enhanced natural philosophy.
the better. Because the late Middle Ages is not
The university as we know it today was highly
in- regarded for its contributions to the
exact sciences, let us concentrate on natural
vented in the late Middle Ages. Universities
philosophy, where there were significant
were powerful and highly regarded institu-
achievements.
tions, corporate entities with numerous privi-
leges that increased century by century. TheyThe role of natural philosophy during the
were always there, dispensing natural philoso-
Middle Ages differed radically from that of the
phy and thereby keeping alive a traditionexact
of sciences. With natural philosophy, we
scientific inquiry. Despite plagues, wars, and
are not concerned with the mere preservation
of Greco-Arabic knowledge, but rather with
revolutions, they carried on, giving natural
philosophy and science a sense of perma-the transformation of an inheritance into
nence. They could do so because the Church something ultimately beneficial for the devel-
and its theologians, who were the guardians opment
of of early modern science. Natural phi-
dogma and doctrine, had acquiesced in the losophers in the arts faculties of the universi-
ties converted Aristotle's natural philosophy
major role accorded to Aristotelian natural
into a large number of questions that were put
philosophy. For the first time in history, sci-
to nature on a range of subjects that eventu-
ence and natural philosophy had a permanent
ally crystallized into specific sciences, among
institutional base. No longer was the preserva-
tion of natural philosophy left to the whims them
of physics, geology, meteorology, and oth-
fortune and to isolated teachers and students.
ers. To each of these questions, a yes or no
Without the development of these three
réponse was usually required.
preconditions, it is difficult to imagine how aWithin the format of a yes or no reply, how-
scientific revolution could have occurred in ever, scholastic authors presented numerous
the seventeenth century. Although thesearguments
pre- and conclusions in defense of their
conditions, permanent features of medieval
different positions. Revolutionary changes oc-
society, were vital for the emergence of curred
early when the responses that were accept-
modern science, and therefore qualifyable
as to natural philosophers in the Middle
foundational elements, they were not in Ages
them-were found inadequate by scholars in the
selves sufficient. The reasons why sciencesixteenth
took and seventeenth centuries. By the
endbeof the seventeenth century, new concep-
root in Western society must ultimately
sought in the nature of the science and natu-tions of physics, and of the cosmos as a whole,
ral philosophy that were developed. drastically altered natural philosophy. Aris-
If we leave medicine aside, science in the totle's cosmology and physics were largely
Middle Ages is appropriately divisible into two abandoned, though his ideas about many
parts: the exact sciences (primarily mathemat- other aspects of nature - including material
ics, astronomy, and optics) and natural phi-change, zoology, and psychology - were still
losophy. Although the Latin Middle Ages pre- found useful. In biology, Aristotle's influence
served the major texts of the exact sciences in continued into the nineteenth century.
mathematics, astronomy, and optics, and even During the fourteenth century, Aristotelian
added to their sum total, I am unaware of any natural philosophy was significantly trans-
methodological or technical changes thatformed. This transformation played a role in
proved to be significant for the scientific revo-the revolution to come. But it was not because
lution. Preserving the texts, as well as studyingof any particular achievements in science,
them, and even writing new treatises on theseimportant though these were. Medieval natu-
subjects, was itself a major achievement. Notral philosophers emphasized ways of know-
only did these activities keep the exact sci-ing and approaching nature - that is, they
ences alive, but they reveal the existence of a became interested in what we might charac-
group of individuals who, during the medieval terize as scientific method. They sought to ex-
centuries, were competent in dealing with plain how we come to understand nature,
these sciences. At the very least, expertise ineven though they rarely pursued the conse-

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 THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR

individuals are occasionally born with eleven

quences of their own methodological insights.
A few of these methodological changesfingers
were does not negate the fact that in the
relevant to mathematics. The mathematical common course of nature we can confidently
treatment of the variation of qualities was
expect ten fingers. On this basis Buridan pro-
claimed that "for us the comprehension of
characteristic of medieval natural philosophy.
The problems were usually imaginary and
truth with certitude is possible." Using reason,
hypothetical, but the application ofexperience,
math- and inductive generalizations, he
sought
ematics to resolve them was commonplace. In to "save the phenomena" in accor-
dance
treating such problems, scholastic authors with the principle of Occam's razor -
fre-
quently introduced infinites and infinitesi-
that is, by the simplest explanation that fits
mals. By the sixteenth and seventeenththe
centu-
evidence. Buridan had only made explicit
ries, mathematical ways of thinking, if not
what was implied by his scholastic colleagues.
mathematics itself, had been incorporated
The widespread use of the principle of sim-
into natural philosophy. The stage was plicity
set forwas a feature typical of medieval natural
the consistent application of natural philosophy.
philoso- It was also characteristic of sci-
ence to
phy to real physical problems, rather than in the seventeenth century, as when
imaginary variations of qualities. Johannes Kepler declared that "it is the most
Most of the methodological contributions
widely accepted axiom in the natural sciences
to science were, however, philosophical.that
Scho-
Nature makes use of the fewest possible
lastic natural philosophers formulated means."
sound
interpretations of concepts such as causality,Medieval natural philosophers investigated
necessity, and contingency. Some - and theJohn
"common course of nature," not its un-
Buridan, an eminent arts master at the Uni- common, or miraculous, path. They charac-
versity of Paris in the fourteenth century, was terized this approach, admirably, by the
one of them - concluded that final causes phrase "speaking naturally" (loquendo natura-
were superfluous and unnecessary. For them,
liter) - that is, speaking by means of natural
efficient causes were sufficient to determine science, and not by means of faith or theol-
the agent of a change. John Buridan was ogy. also That such an expression should have
involved in another major methodological de- emerged, and come into common usage in
velopment when he insisted that scientific medieval natural philosophy, is a tribute to
truth is not absolute, like mathematical truth, the scholars who took as their primary mission
but has degrees of certitude. The kind of cer- the explanation of the structure and opera-
tainty Buridan had in mind consisted of tion of the world in purely rational and secu-
undemonstrable principles that formed the lar terms.
basis of natural science - as, for example, that The widespread assumption of "natural im-
all fire is warm and that the heaven moves. For possibilities" or counterfactuals- or, as they
Buridan, these principles are not absolute, but are sometimes called, "thought-experiments" -
are derivable from inductive generalization;was a significant aspect of medieval methodol-
or, as he put it, "they are accepted because ogy. An occurrence would have been consid-
they have been observed to be true in manyered "naturally impossible" if it was thought
instances, and to be false in none." inconceivable for it to occur within the ac-
Moreover, Buridan regarded these induc-cepted framework of Aristotelian physics and
tively generalized principles as conditional be- cosmology. The frequent use of natural im-
cause their truth is predicated on the assump- possibilities derived largely from the powerful
tion of the "common course of nature." This medieval concept of God's absolute power, in
was a profound assumption that effectively which it was conceded that God could do any-
eliminated the effect on science of unpredict- thing whatever short of a logical contradic-
able, divine interventions. In short, it elimi-tion. In the Middle Ages, such thinking re-
nated the need to worry about miracles in the sulted in conclusions that challenged certain
pursuit of natural philosophy. Miracles could aspects of Aristotle's physics. Where Aristotle
no longer affect the validity of natural science.
had shown that other worlds were impossible,
Nor indeed could chance occurrences that medieval scholastics showed not only that the
might occasionally impede or preventexistence
the of other worlds was possible, but
natural effects of natural causes. Just because
that they would be compatible with our world.

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 WHEN DID MODERN SCIENCE BEGIN?

cause,
The novel replies that emerged from the analogy, matter, form, essence, genus, spe-
phys-
ics and cosmology of counterfactualscies,
didrelation,
not quantity, quality, place, vacuum, infi-
cause the overthrow of the Aristotelian world-
nite, and many others. These Aristotelian
view, but they did challenge some of its funda- terms formed a significant component of
mental principles. They made many aware scholastic natural philosophy. The language
that things could be quite different from what of medieval natural philosophy, however, did
was dreamt of in Aristotle's philosophy. Butnot consist solely of translated Aristotelian
they accomplished more than that. Not onlyterms. New concepts, terms, and definitions
did some of the problems and solutions con-were added in the fourteenth century, most
tinue to influence scholastic authors in the
notably in the domains of change and motion.
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but this
Definitions of uniform motion, uniformly ac-
characteristically medieval approach alsocelerated
in- motion, and instantaneous motion
fluenced significant non-scholastics, whowerere- added to the lexicon of natural philoso-
veal an awareness of the topics debated phy.by By the seventeenth century, these terms,
scholastics. concepts, and definitions were embedded in
the language and thought of European natu-
One of the most fruitful ideas that passed
ral philosophers.
from the Middle Ages to the seventeenth cen-
Medieval natural philosophy played another
tury is the concept of God annihilating matter
and leaving behind a vacuum - a concept momentous role in the transition to early
used effectively by John Locke, Pierre Gas-modern science. It furnished some - if, it is
sendi, and Thomas Hobbes in their discus- true, not many - of the basic problems that
sions of space. exercised the minds of non-scholastic natural
A famous natural impossibility derived from philosophers in the sixteenth and seventeenth
a proposition condemned in 1277. As a conse- centuries. Medieval natural philosophers pro-
quence, it was mandatory after 1277 to con- duced hundreds of specific questions about
cede that God could move our spherical world nature, the answers to which included a vast
rectilinearly, despite the vacuum that might amount of scientific information. Most of the
be left behind. More than an echo of this questions had multiple answers, with no genu-
imaginary manifestation of God's absolute ine way of choosing between them. In the six-
power reverberated through the seventeenth teenth and seventeenth centuries, new solu-
century, when Pierre Gassendi and Samuel tions were proposed by scholars who found
Clarke (in his famous dispute with Leibniz) Aristotelian answers unacceptable, or, at best,
found it useful to appeal to God's movement inadequate. The changes they made, however,
of the world. In medieval intellectual culture, were mostly in the answers, not in the ques-
where observation and experiment played tions. The scientific revolution was not the re-
negligible roles, counterfactuals were a power- sult of new questions put to nature in place of
ful tool because they emphasized metaphysics, medieval questions. It was, at least initially,
logic, theology, and the imagination - the very more a matter of finding new answers to old
areas in which medieval natural philosophers questions, answers that came, more and more,
excelled. to include experiments, which were excep-
tional occurrences in the Middle Ages. Al-
The scientific methodologies described
here produced new conceptualizations andthough
as- the solutions differed, many funda-
mental problems were common to both
sumptions about the world. Ideas about
groups. Beginning around 1200, medieval
nature's simplicity, its common course, as well
natural philosophers, largely located at Euro-
as the use of counterfactuals, emphasized new
pean universities, exhibited an unprece-
and important ways to think about nature.
Galileo and his fellow scientific revolutionar- dented concern for the nature and structure
ies inherited these attitudes, and most would of the physical world. The contributors to the
have subscribed to them. scientific revolution continued the same tradi-
Another legacy from the Middle Ages to tion, because by then these matters had be-
come
early modern science was an extensive and so- an integral part of intellectual life in
Western society.
phisticated body of terms that formed the ba-
sis of later scientific discourse - such terms as The Middle Ages did not just transmit a
potential, actual, substance, property, accident,great deal of significantly modified, tradi-

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 THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR

tional, natural philosophy, much of it Everyone

in the who did natural philosophy in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was the
form of questions; it also conveyed a remark-
beneficiary
able tradition of relatively free, rational in- of these remarkable develop-
quiry. The medieval philosophical tradition
ments. The spirit of free inquiry nourished by
was fashioned in the faculties of arts of medi-
medieval natural philosophers formed part of
eval universities. Natural philosophy was their
the intellectual heritage of all who engaged in
domain, and almost from the outset masters scientific investigation. Most, of course, were
of arts struggled to establish as much aca- unaware of their legacy and would probably
demic freedom as possible. They sought to have denied its existence, preferring to heap
preserve and expand the study of philosophy. ridicule and scorn on Aristotelian scholastics
Arts masters regarded themselves as the guard- and scholasticism. That ridicule was not with-
ians of natural philosophy and fought for the out justification. It was time to alter the course
right to apply reason to all problems about the of medieval natural philosophy.
physical world. By virtue of their independent Some Aristotelian natural philosophers
status as a faculty, with numerous rights and tried to accommodate the new heliocentric as-
privileges, they achieved a surprisingly largetronomy that had emerged from the brilliant
degree of freedom during the Middle Ages. efforts of Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and Gali-
Theology was always a potential obstacle, leo. By then, accommodation was no longer
true, but in practice theologians offered little sufficient. Medieval natural philosophy was
opposition, largely because they, too, were destined to vanish by the end of the seven-
heavily imbued with natural philosophy. By teenth century. The medieval scholastic leg-
the end of the thirteenth century, the arts fac- acy, however, remained - namely, the spirit of
ulty had attained virtual independence from free inquiry, the emphasis on reason, a variety
the theological faculty. By then, philosophyof approaches to nature, and the core of le-
and its major subdivision, natural philosophy, gitimate problems that would occupy the at-
had emerged as an independent disciplinetention of the new science. Inherited from the
based in the arts faculties of European univer- Middle Ages, too, was the profound sense that
sities. True, arts masters were always subject to all of these activities were legitimate and im-
restraints with regard to religious dogma, but portant, that discovering the way the world
the subject areas where such issues arose were operated was a laudable undertaking. These
limited. During the thirteenth century, arts enormous achievements were accomplished
masters had learned how to cope with the in the late Middle Ages, between 1175 and
problematic aspects of Aristotle's thought. 1500.
They treated those problems hypothetically, To illustrate how medieval contributions to
or announced that they were merely repeating the new science ought to be viewed, let me
Aristotle's opinions, even as they offereddraw upon an analogy from the Middle Ages.
elaborations of his arguments. During the In the late thirteenth century in Italy, the
Middle Ages, natural philosophy remained course of the history of medicine was altered
what Aristotle had made it: an essentially secu- significantly when human dissection was al-
lar and rational discipline. It remained so only lowed for postmortems and was shortly after-
because the arts faculty struggled to preserve ward introduced into medical schools, where
it. In doing so, they transformed natural phi- it soon became institutionalized as part of the
losophy into an independent discipline thatanatomical training of medical students. Ex-
embraced as well as glorified the rational in-cept in ancient Egypt, human dissection had
vestigation of all problems relevant to the been forbidden in the ancient world. By the
physical world. In the 1330s, William of second century A.D., it was also banned in
Ockham expressed the sentiments of most arts Egypt. It was never permitted in the Islamic
masters and many theologians when he de- world. Its introduction into the Latin West
clared: marked a new beginning, made without seri-
ous
Assertions . . . concerning natural philosophy,
objection from the Church. It was a mo-
mentous event. Dissection of cadavers was
which do not pertain to theology, should not be
solemnly condemned or forbidden to anyone,used primarily in teaching, albeit irregularly
since in such matters everyone should be free until
to the end of the fifteenth century. Rarely,
say freely whatever he pleases. if at all, was it employed to enhance scientific

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 WHEN DID MODERN SCIENCE BEGIN?

the translations,
knowledge of the human body. The revival of the universities, the theolo-
human dissection and its incorporation gian-natural
into philosophers, and the medieval
medical training throughout the Middle Ages
version of Aristotelian natural philosophy did
laid a foundation for what was to come. collectively for the scientific revolution of the
seventeenth century. These vital features of
Without it, we cannot imagine the signifi-
cant anatomical progress that was made medieval
by science formed a foundation that
such keen anatomists as Leonardo da Vinci made possible a continuous, uninterrupted
(1452-1519), Bartolommeo Eustachio (1520-74),
eight hundred years of scientific development,
Andreas Vesalius (1514-64), and manyaothers. development that began in Western Europe
What human dissection did for medicine, and spread around the world.

I've Cultivated a Nostalgia

Scott Coffel

I've cultivated a nostalgia so frugal it re-lives

the death of communism without party favors or vodka, your
embryo taking root

and Ceausescu executed within hours

of each other on a Christmas morning
five years down the road from this consensual foot massage

in the balcony of the recital hall,

our pleasure advancing without resistance, our souls
privy to a sense of scale that makes a flea circus out of history.

О SCOTT COFFEL's poems have appeared in the Antioch Review, the Pans Review, Prairie Schooner,
MSS, and the Wallace Stevens Journal.

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