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The Oxford Calculators in Context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Edith Sylla
Edith Sylla
Affiliation:
Department of History, North Carolina State University
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Abstract

Our understanding of the predisposing factors, the nature, and the fate of the Oxford Calculatory tradition can be significantly increased by seeing it in its social and institutional context. For instance, the use of intricate imaginary cases in Calculatory works becomes more understandable if we see the connection of these works to undergraduate logical disputations. Likewise, the demise of the Calculatory tradition is better understood in the light of subsequent efforts at educational reform.

Unfortunately, too little evidence remains about the Calculators and their context to enable anything like a full reconstruction of the relation of the Oxford Calculators' work to its context. Nevertheless, seeking out and fitting together the bits of information that do remain can add to our insight. Among the topics worth further research are the relation of training in calculationes to later careers in church or government, and the special features of the Calculatory tradition as a tradition consisting of multiple parallel manifestations closely interconnected with other disciplines, ranging from logic and natural philosophy to theology and medicine.

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Science in Context , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , September 1987, pp. 257 - 279
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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