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Project

Breaking the Lines: Geometrical Reasoning and Medieval Atomism

The proposed research is centered on one fundamental issue in the history of philosophy and science, namely, the debate about atomism. Regarding this debate, late medieval thinkers made a remarkable contribution with long-lasting influences on Modern thought. The aim of the project is to shed new light on the mathematical approach by which the medievals questioned a central problem in natural philosophy, i.e. the nature of continuum. 
In the 13th and 14th century, two opposite tenets were advanced by Aristotelians and atomists. In accordance with Aristotle’s thought, the former accounted for the infinite divisibility of everything within space, whereas the latter held to the existence of indivisible elements composing the continuum. Geometrical reasoning enlivened late medieval discussions on the nature of extension. A pivotal role in the development of geometrical arguments was played by De lineis insecabilibus, a geometrical text which was wrongly ascribed to Aristotle and had a great popularity throughout the Middle Ages.
The research will offer a thorough analysis of the geometrical arguments employed by late medieval philosophers, retracing the medieval roots of the philosophical discussion of the geometric space. The first critical edition of De lineis insecabilibus will be produced and its impact on Latin atomism evaluated, and further evidence in support of the attribution of its Latin translation to the 13th-century polymath Robert Grosseteste will be provided.

Date:1 Oct 2021 →  Today
Keywords:Medieval Philosophy, Atomism, Pseudo-Aristotelian Tradition
Disciplines:History and biography of mathematical sciences, Cultural history, Literatures in Latin, Philology, History of philosophy