In this book, James McEvoy provides a brief, accessible introduction to the thought of Robert Grosseteste (c 1168-1253). Grosseteste was the initiator of the English scientific tradition, one of the first chancellors of Oxford University, and a famous teacher and commentator on the newly discovered works of Aristotle. Despite his importance, very little of his work is available in English. McEvoy translates into English brief passages from Grosseteste's own writings which are of central importance to his thought and builds around them the first general, inclusive overview of the entire range of Grosseteste's intellectual achievement.

"Historical scholarship in the last half-century has found the origins of modern science long before the so-called Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century, has demonstrated in fact that the modern science of the West began in the thirteenth century withe the Western response to the new Latin translations from Greek and Arabic. Dr. Crombie has shown in this study that the outstanding contribution of the natural philosophers of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries to the Western scientific tradition was their understanding of the systematic use of experiment in scientific investigation and explanation. This contribution marks one of the great stages in the history of science, comparable with the development of geometry by the Greeks and of the mathematics of motion in the seventeenth century. Uniting Greek geometrical methods with the practical tradition of Western and Arab technology, Western scholars, beginning with Robert Grosseteste and his followers in Oxford, systematically developed methods of induction and experimental verification and falsification which have remained a permanent part of scientific procedure. The book begins with a sketch of the philosophical and technological background to thirteenth-century science. It goes on to give a detailed analysis of Grosseteste's ideas on the logic of science and the development of these ideas in Oxford from Roger Bacon to William of Ockham and Thomas Bradwardine. Then follows an account of the influence of Oxford ideas on scientific method in Paris and other continental centres. Examples are given of the use of the new experimental method in investigating concrete problems. especially in optics, astronomy, and magnetics. The theory of the rainbow, first attempted by Grosseteste and successfully advanced in the essentials detail. The book concludes by tracing the influence of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century writings on the rainbow and on the nature of light down to Descartes and Newton, and the influence of the writings on scientific method down to Francis Bacon, Galileo, Descartes, and Newton."- Publisher

The thirteenth century was a dynamic period in intellectual history which witnessed the establishment of the first universities, most famously at Paris and Oxford. At these and other major European centres of learning, English-born Franciscans came to hold prominent roles both in the university faculties of the arts and theology and in the local studia across Europe that were primarily responsible for training Franciscans. This volume explores the contributions to scholarship of some of the leading English Franciscans or Franciscan associates from this period, including Roger Bacon, Adam Marsh, John Pecham, Thomas of Yorke, Roger Marston, Robert Grosseteste, Adam of Exeter, Richard Rufus of Cornwall, and Bartholomew of England. Through focussed studies of these figures’ signature ideas, contributions will provide a basis for drawing comparisons between the English Franciscan school and others that existed at the time, most famously at Paris.

Few figures of the Middle Ages command the attention of so many modern disciplines as Robert Grosseteste (c. 1170-1253). Theology, Philosophy, History, and Science are all areas which his life and thought continue to have significance and to inspire re-interpretation. Accompanied by a series of original commentaries, this new edition of Grosseteste's work, with English translation, draws together the perspectives of modern scientists and medieval specialists. Volume I of a six volume series, Knowing and Speaking presents two of the earliest of Grosseteste's works, the treatises On the Liberal Arts and On the Generation of Sounds. These are accompanied by a significant Middle English treatise on the Seven Liberal Arts whose anonymous fifteenth-century author translated and excerpted passages from Grosseteste's treatises in a re-imagining of their structure and function. Each work is treated separately within the volume, which is constructed in three parts. On the Liberal Arts sets Grosseteste's thoughts on the arts subjects and emphasises moral concerns about the purpose of learning. On the Generation of Sounds builds on the theories and statements of On the Liberal Arts in connection to the production of sound, elaborating the earlier position, relating the generation of sounds to human vocal and speech production.

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.

This book explores a wide range of topics relating to scientific and religious learning in the work of Bishop Robert Grosseteste (c. 1168–1253) and does so from various perspectives, including those of a twenty-first century scientists, historians, and philosophers as well as several medievalists. In particular, it aims to contribute to our understanding of where to place Grosseteste in the history of science (against the background of the famous claim by A.C. Crombie that Grosseteste introduced what we now might call “experimental science”) and to demonstrate that the polymathic world of the medieval scholar, who recognized no dichotomy in the pursuit of scientific and philosophical/theological understanding, has much to teach those of us in the modern world who wrestle with the vexed question of the relationship between science and religion. The book comprises an edited selection of the best papers presented at the 3rd International Robert Grosseteste Conference (2014) on the theme of scientific and religious learning, especially in the work of Grosseteste.

Robert Grosseteste was one of the most prominent thinkers of the Thirteenth Century. Philosopher and scientist, he was Bishop of Lincoln from 1235 to 1253. He was heavily influenced by Augustine, whose thought permeates his writings, but he also made extensive use of the thought of Aristotle, Avicenna and Averroes. Grosseteste's physics is the science of Nature, of which we will discuss in this book. This science is quite different from the Galilean physics. However, in the scientific treatises written by Grosseteste, we find some features preparing the born of the new physics that produced the Galilean revolution and the Newtonian mechanics. This is the reason why Robert Grosseteste, English statesman, philosopher and scientist, is defined by Alistair Cameron Crombie as the real founder of the tradition of the scientific thought in Oxford. In this book we will propose a discussion of this Grosseteste's physics, in particular that which in described in his treatises on light, heat and sound.