The act of eating is a basic human need. Yet in all societies, quotidian choices regarding food and its consumption reveal deeply rooted shared cultural conventions. Food goes beyond issues relating to biological needs and nutrition or production and commerce; it also reveals social and cultural criteria that determine what dishes are prepared on what occasions, and it unveils the politics of the table via the rituals associated with different meals. This book approaches the history of food in Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy through an interdisciplinary prism of sources ranging from correspondence, literature (both high and low), and medical and dietary treatises to cosmographic theory and iconographic evidence. Using a variety of analytical methods and theoretical approaches, it moves food studies firmly into the arena of Late Medieval and Renaissance history, providing an essential key to deciphering the material and metaphorical complexity of this period in European, and especially Italian, history.

Human civilization will be forever indebted to the great thinkers of Jewish philosophy's golden age. Moses Maimonedes, Levi Gersonides, Judah Halevi, Saadia Gaon, Hasdai Crescas and their like grappled with some of the most challenging metaphysical issues, while the profundity of their solutions continue to engage philosophers today. Did God create the world? Can human freedom be reconciled with divine foreknowledge? What is the nature of the good life? Focusing on the central philosophical questions of the Middle Ages, Daniel Rynhold offers a concise introduction to topics such as God and creation, human freewill, biblical prophecy, the Commandments, the divine attributes and immortality. Structured around themes that form the common "syllabus" of medieval Jewish philosophy, each chapter builds a debate around a particular topic and in so doing utilizes the arguments of the chief philosophical figures of the medieval era. Explaining all concepts in a clear, non-technical fashion, the book also provides suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter. The first dedicated textbook to introduce the great richness of medieval Jewish philosophy as a whole, this lively and comprehensive survey is the ideal introduction for undergraduate students of the subject as well as the interested general reader.

Was man in der alteuropaischen Metaphysik "das Wesen" des Menschen genannt hat, ist historisch zugrunde gegangen. Die Spezifik des Menschen wurde in seiner dualistischen Aufspaltung, entweder Seele oder Korper zu sein, und in seiner monistischen Auflosung, ganz Natur oder Geist zu sein, verfehlt. Gleichwohl sind wir alle in unserem Common sense praktisch der Frage ausgesetzt, wie wir die naturlichen, sozialen und kulturellen Aspekte unserer Existenz in der Fuhrung eines menschlichen Lebens sinnvoll berucksichtigen konnen. Die neuen Reproduktions-, Umwelt-, Kommunikations- und Sozialtechnologien werfen taglich die Frage auf, was es heisst, als vergleichbare Person und als Individuum ein menschliches Leben zu fuhren. Die "Philosophische Anthropologie" (Helmuth Plessner) hat die Spezifik menschlicher Phanomene naturphilosophisch als eine Besonderheit im Spielverhalten hoherer Saugetiere erschlossen. Im Spielen kann Verhalten von seinem ursprunglichen Antrieb abgelost und an einen neuen Antrieb gebunden werden. Dies gelingt seitens des Organismus um so besser, je ruckbezuglicher seine zentrische Form (Gehirn) der Selbstreproduktion wird. Dadurch entsteht aber eine Ambivalenz in den Zentrierungsrichtungen des Verhaltens, namlich spontan aus der leiblichen Funktionsmitte des Organismus heraus oder von den korperlich moglichen Funktionsmitten der Umwelt her. Diese Ambivalenz bedarf zur Stutzung entsprechender soziokultureller Losungsformen, in denen sie lebbar verschrankt werden kann. Wer wie z. B. Kinder spielt, lebt in der Differenz, sein Verhalten verkorpern (von einem Zentrum ausserhalb des eigenen Leibes her koordinieren) und verleiblichen (auf seinen eigenen unvertretbaren Leib hin zentrieren) konnen zu mussen. Die (kategorische) Not solcher Lebewesen, ihre beiden Zentrierungsrichtungen ausbalancieren zu mussen, kann aber auf kontingente Weise (konjunktivisch) befriedigt werden. Dieser "Kategorische Konjunktiv" (Plessner) der Lebensfuhrung macht Menschen einer geschichtlich zu erringenden soziokulturellen Natur bedurftig. Im ersten des auf zwei Bande konzipierten Werks wird Plessners "Kategorischer Konjunktiv" als ein Spektrum menschlicher Phanomene vorgefuhrt, in denen sich unsere verschiedenen leiblichen und korperlichen Sinne zu einer Funktionseinheit verschranken. Der Zusammenhang unserer Sinne ergibt sich daraus, dass jeder Mensch lebensgeschichtlich eine soziokulturelle Elementarrolle spielt. Dank dieser kann man sich personalisieren (vergleichbar werden) und im Unterschied zu ihr individualisieren. Das Schauspielen der Rolle gerinnt in Ausdrucks-, Handlungs- und Sprachformen, unter denen die westliche Modernisierung hochst einseitig solche der Selbstbeherrschung durch Selbstbewusstsein ausgezeichnet hat. Das Ausspielen der Rolle findet aber seine Verhaltensgrenzen in Phanomenen ungespielten Lachens und Weinens, in denen die Zuordnung zwischen Individuum und Person nicht mehr gelingt. Das Eingespieltsein zwischen sich als Person und Individuum kann im ungespielten Lachen zu mehrsinnig oder im ungespielten Weinen sinnlos werden. Die soziolkulturell zu bestimmter Zeit anerkannten Rollen werden aber individuell durch Suchte und Leidenschaften und geschichtlich durch kulturelle Entfremdung der Nachwachsenden und gesellschaftliche Offnung der Gemeinschaftsformen wieder aus der Balance gebracht. Daraus resultiert das Problem der geschichtlichen Selbstermachtigung von Individuen und Generationen. Plessners neue Konzeption souveraner Formen von Macht, die aus der Relation zur eigenen Unbestimmtheit zu gewinnen sind, und im Hinblick auf die moderne Emanzipation der Macht fur plurale Gesellschaften als Minima moralia erortert. In den Verhaltensgrenzen des angespielten Lachen und Weinens werden wir uns unbestimmt. Wer diese Grenzen uberschreitet, begeht der Moglichkeit nach Unmenschliches."

Die MISCELLANEA MEDIAEVALIA prasentieren seit ihrer Grundung durch Paul Wilpert im Jahre 1962 Arbeiten des Thomas-Instituts der Universitat zu Koeln. Das Kernstuck der Publikationsreihe bilden die Akten der im zweijahrigen Rhythmus stattfindenden Koelner Mediaevistentagungen, die vor uber 50 Jahren von Josef Koch, dem Grundungsdirektor des Instituts, ins Leben gerufen wurden. Der interdisziplinare Charakter dieser Kongresse pragt auch die Tagungsakten: Die MISCELLANEA MEDIAEVALIA versammeln Beitrage aus allen mediavistischen Disziplinen - die mittelalterliche Geschichte, die Philosophie, die Theologie sowie die Kunst- und Literaturwissenschaften sind Teile einer Gesamtbetrachtung des Mittelalters.

This book is a study ofthe psychology of Averroes and its influence on Roman philosophy. It addresses his famous doctrine of the intellect, and its critical defence by the English 14th-century theologian Thomas Wylton. The major questions related to the body-mind problem are tackled: the relation between soul and body, the status of imagination, the nature of the intellect s power, and the autonomy of the thinker."

How can the Body and Blood of Christ, without ever leaving heaven, come to be really present on eucharistic altars where the bread and wine still seem to be? Thirteenth and fourteenth century Christian Aristotelians thought the answer had to be "transubstantiation."
Acclaimed philosopher, Marilyn McCord Adams, investigates these later medieval theories of the Eucharist, concentrating on the writings of Thomas Aquinas, Giles of Rome, Duns Scotus, and William Ockham, with some reference to Peter Lombard, Hugh of St. Victor, and Bonaventure. She examines how their efforts to formulate and integrate this theological datum provoked them to make significant revisions in Aristotelian philosophical theories regarding the metaphysical structure and location of bodies, differences between substance and accidents, causality and causal powers, and fundamental types of change. Setting these developments in the theological context that gave rise to the question draws attention to their understandings of the sacraments and their purpose, as well as to their understandings of the nature and destiny of human beings.
Adams concludes that their philosophical modifications were mostly not ad hoc, but systematic revisions that made room for transubstantiation while allowing Aristotle still to describe what normally and naturally happens. By contrast, their picture of the world as it will be (after the last judgment) seems less well integrated with their sacramental theology and their understandings of human nature.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the key themes in Greek and Roman science, medicine, mathematics and technology. A distinguished team of specialists engage with topics including the role of observation and experiment, Presocratic natural philosophy, ancient creationism, and the special style of ancient Greek mathematical texts, while several chapters confront key questions in the philosophy of science such as the relationship between evidence and explanation. The volume will spark renewed discussion about the character of 'ancient' versus 'modern' science, and will broaden readers' understanding of the rich traditions of ancient Greco-Roman natural philosophy, science, medicine and mathematics.

The idea that there once existed a perfect language that expressed, without ambiguity, the essence of all possible things and concepts, has occupied the minds of philosophers, theologians and mystics for more than 2,000 years. From the Dark Ages to the Renaissance, it was accepted that the language spoken in the Garden of Eden was the perfect one, and that if this authentic language could be recovered, Mankind would be able to comprehend the true meaning of existence. Versions of this belief persisted until the eighteenth century, and even today still have currency, as scientists seek to create a natural language for machines that are artificially intelligent. Umberto Eco's highly imaginative book tells the story of the attempts to rediscover this lost tongue.

"A virtuoso performance… Eco is polymathic to an extent most will regard as practically inhuman, and has never seemed more so in this well-organized, sprightly and exhaustingly intelligent book."
FRANK KERMODE, 'New York Review of Books'

"Eco's latest book is not a ritual document to be studied by cloistered acolytes of the semiotic faith, but rather a wonderful piece of literature, a book to be studied by all with pleasure. The question of the perfect language, Eco relates, is one of the few with which you can actually begin at The Beginning, for the difficulty starts in the Book of Genesis. Eco wishes to know what that first language was. It turns out that many have asked this question since ancient times…"
JOHN GREPPIN, 'TLS'

This volume belongs to the critical edition of the complete works of Francis Bacon (1561-1626), an edition that presents the works in broadly chronological order and in accordance with the principles of modern textual scholarship. This volume contains critical editions of five varied works Bacon composed during the 1620s. The most significant and substantial of these five works is his biography of Henry VII (The historie of the raigne of King Henry the seventh) but the volume testifies as well to Bacon's continuing robust allegiance to his youthful vaunt that all knowledge was his province, for it also includes his sketch for a biography of Henry VIII, An advertisement touching an holy war (a thoughtful debate over the prospect of holy war in his own time), Apophthegmes (a lively collection of witty anecdotes, classical to early modern), and his select verse translations from the psalms. In each case an authoritative text has been established based upon fresh collation of the relevant manuscripts and of multiple copies of the seventeenth-century editions, and subjected to a thorough bibliographical analysis of the treatment of Bacon's texts in the early modern printing-house. The Introductions discuss the occasion and context for each work, evaluate his creative transmutation of his sources, and weigh their contemporary reception. A comprehensive commentary identifies and parses Bacon's use of source material, from his refinement of published literary and historical sources and contemporary MSS to the political white papers composed while he served as counsellor to King James. An extensive glossary is integrated into this commentary. An Appendix provides full bibliographical descriptions of all of the textual witnesses, manuscript and printed edition.

Die Bedeutung des Spiels in der Lebenswelt der mittelalterlichen Kloester und Orden ist bislang nicht als Phanomen von kultureller Tragweite eroertert worden, denn der (scheinbare) Antagonismus aus kontemplativem Leben einerseits und heiterem Spiel andererseits verhinderte, dass der religiosus ludens wissenschaftlich Beachtung fand. Die im Band vereinigten, interdisziplinaren Analysen der theologischen, liturgischen, kunstgeschichtlichen, rechtlichen und sozialen Dimensionen von Ball-, Wurfel-, Brett-, Karten- und Wissensspielen verdeutlichen erstmals die gestalterische Kraft der Ordensleute zur Erfindung, Adaption und Vermittlung von Spielen wie deren Sinngehalten innerhalb der vormodernen Gesellschaft. Im Aufzeigen der innovativen und mannigfaltigen Wege der Legitimation und Delegitimation monastischen und aussermonastischen Spiels, aus denen Ordensleute zudem wegweisende und gesamtgesellschaftlich tragfahige Kategorisierungen des ludus entwickelten und nahezu samtliche Lebensentwurfe der Vormoderne erklarten, stellt der Band nicht nur eine neuartige Perspektive auf das Spiel und die vita religiosa vor. Zugleich oeffnet er ein noch unbekanntes Fenster zum Verstandnis kultureller Mechanismen im Mittelalter.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Mark Rowlands was a young philosophy professor, rootless and searching for life s greater meaning. Shortly after arriving at the University of Alabama, he noticed a classified ad in the local paper advertising wolf cubs for sale, and decided he had to investigate, if only out of curiosity. It was love at first sight, and the bond that grew between philosopher and wolf reaffirms for us the incredible relationships that exist between man and animal. When Mark welcomed his new companion, Brenin, into his home, but more than just an exotic pet, Brenin exerted an immense influence on Rowlands both as a person, and, strangely enough, as a philosopher, leading him to reevaluate his attitude toward love, happiness, nature, death, and the true meaning of companionship.

This book examines Robert Grosseteste's often underrepresented ideas on education. It uniquely brings together academics from the fields of medieval history, modern science and contemporary education to shed new light on a fascinating medieval figure whose work has an enormous amount to offer anyone with an interest in our educational processes. The book locates Grosseteste as a key figure in the intellectual history of medieval Europe and positions him as an important thinker who concerned himself with the science of education and set out to elucidate the processes and purposes of learning. This book offers an important practical contribution to the discussion of the contemporary nature and purpose of many aspects of our education processes. This book will be of interest to students, researchers and academics in the disciplines of educational philosophy, medieval history, philosophy and theology.

Towards the end of his life, St. Thomas Aquinas produced a brief, non-technical work summarizing some of the main points of his massive Summa Theologiae. This 'compendium' was intended as an introductory handbook for students and scholars who might not have access to the larger work. It remains the best concise introduction to Aquinas's thought. Furthermore, it is extremely interesting to scholars because it represents Aquinas's last word on these topics. Aquinas does not break new ground or re-think earlier positions but often states them more directly and with greater precision than can be found elsewhere. There is only one available English translation of the Compendium (published as 'Aquinas's Shorter Summa: Saint Thomas's Own Concise Version of his Summa Theologiae, ' by Sophia Institute Press). It is published by a very small Catholic publishing house, is marketed to the devotional readership, contains no scholarly apparatus. Richard Regan is a highly respected Aquinas translator, who here relies on the definitive Leonine edition of the Latin text. His work will be received as the premier English version of this important text.

Desmond M. Clarke presents a thematic history of French philosophy from the middle of the sixteenth century to the beginning of Louis XIV's reign. While the traditional philosophy of the schools was taught throughout this period by authors who have faded into permanent obscurity, a whole generation of writers who were not professional philosophers-some of whom never even attended a school or college-addressed issues that were prominent in French public life. Clarke explores such topics as the novel political theory espoused by monarchomachs, such as Beze and Hotman, against Bodin's account of absolute sovereignty; the scepticism of Montaigne, Charron, and Sanches; the ethical discussions of Du Vair, Gassendi, and Pascal; innovations in natural philosophy that were inspired by Mersenne and Descartes and implemened by members of the Academie royale des sciences; theories of the human mind from Jean de Silhon to Cureau de la Chambre and Descartes; and the novel arguments in support of women's education and equality that were launched by De Gournay, Du Bosc, Van Schurman and Poulain de la Barre. The writers involved were lawyers, political leaders, theologians, and independent scholars and they acknowledged, almost unanimously, the authority of the Bible as a source of knowledge that was claimed to be more reliable than the fragile powers of human understanding. Since they could not agree, however, on which books of the Bible were canonical or how that should be understood, their discussions raised questions about faith and reason that mirrored those involved in the infamous Galileo affair.

This is a brief, accessible introduction to the thought of the philosopher John Buridan (ca. 1295-1361). Little is known about Buridan's life, most of which was spent studying and then teaching at the University of Paris. Buridan's works are mostly by-products of his teaching. They consist mainly of commentaries on Aristotle, covering the whole extent of Aristotelian philosophy, ranging from logic to metaphysics, to natural science, to ethics and politics. Aside from these running commentaries on Aristotle's texts, Buridan wrote influential question-commentaries. These were a typical genre of the medieval scholastic output, in which the authors systematically and thoroughly discussed the most problematic issues raised by the text they were lecturing on. The question-format allowed Buridan to work out in detail his characteristically nominalist take on practically all aspects of Aristotelian philosophy, using the conceptual tools he developed in his works on logic. Buridan's influence in the late Middle Ages can hardly be overestimated. His ideas quickly spread not only through his own works, but to an even larger extent through the work of his students and younger colleagues, such as Nicholas Oresme, Marisilius of Inghen, and Albert of Saxony, who in turn became very influential themselves, and turned Buridan's ideas into standard textbook material in the curricula of many late medieval European universities. With the waning of scholasticism Buridan's fame quickly faded. Gyula Klima argues, however, that many of Buridan's academic concerns are strikingly similar to those of modern philosophy and his work sometimes quite directly addresses modern philosophical questions.

Ethics was a central preoccupation of medieval philosophers, and medieval ethical thought is rich, diverse, and inventive. Yet standard histories of ethics often skip quickly over the medievals, and histories of medieval philosophy often fail to do justice to the centrality of ethical concerns in medieval thought. This volume presents the full range of medieval ethics in Christian, Islamic, and Jewish philosophy in a way that is accessible to a non-specialist and reveals the liveliness and sophistication of medieval ethical thought. In Part I there is a series of historical chapters presenting developmental and contextual accounts of Christian, Islamic, and Jewish ethics. Part II offers topical chapters on such central themes as happiness, virtue, law, and freedom, as well as on less-studied aspects of medieval ethics such as economic ethics, the ethical dimensions of mysticism, and sin and grace. This will be an important volume for students of ethics and medieval philosophy.

In diesem Buch liefert Hans-Ulrich Wohler einen reprasentativen geschichtlichen Uberblick zum dialektischen Denken in der mittelalterlichen Philosophie. Untersucht werden ausgewahlte Texte von Autoren unterschiedlicher sprachlicher, religioser und philosophischer Provenienz aus dem Zeitraum zwischen dem 6. und dem 17. Jahrhundert. Die den Autor dabei leitende Frage lautet: Inwiefern dachten diese Denker in ihrer Philosophie dialektisch? Im Zentrum des Bandes steht somit die Beschreibung und Rekonstruktion von konkreten Ausserungs- und Anwendungsformen und vor allem von Inhalten eines dialektischen Denkens, unabhangig von ihrer Selbstkennzeichnung durch deren Urheber. Der gewahlte zeitliche Rahmen integriert in die Darstellung nicht nur einige klassische Vertreter der Philosophie im lateinischen, islamischen und judischen Mittelalter, sondern er bezieht zugleich die Perioden der Rezeption und Aneignung des antiken Erbes am Anfang und des kritischen Rekurses darauf am Ende der Epoche ein."

Although Pseudo-Dionysius was, after Aristotle, the author whom Thomas Aquinas quoted most frequently, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the role of this Neoplatonist thinker in the formation of Aquinas' philosophy. Fran O'Rourke's book is the only available work that investigates the pervasive influence of Pseudo-Dionysius on Aquinas, while at the same time examining the latter's profound originality. Central themes discussed by O'Rourke include knowledge of the absolute, existence as the first and most universal perfection, the diffusion of creation, the hierarchy of creatures, and their return to God as final end. O'Rourke devotes special attention to the Neoplatonist element in Aquinas' notion of "being" as intensity or degree of perfection. He also considers the relation of being and goodness in light of Aquinas' nuanced reversal of Dionysius' theory of the primacy of the good, and Aquinas' arguments for the transcendental nature of goodness.