Glorious science or “dead dog”? Jean de Jandun and the quarrel over astrology in fourteenth-century Paris

This article edits and examines a little-known epistolary treatise datable to 1322, which survives in a fifteenth-century manuscript in the Herzog-August-Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel. The author of this work was engaged in a heated argument with the Parisian philosopher Jean de Jandun over the status an...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nothaft, CPE
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Brill Academic Publishers 2019
_version_ 1826308400605036544
author Nothaft, CPE
author_facet Nothaft, CPE
author_sort Nothaft, CPE
collection OXFORD
description This article edits and examines a little-known epistolary treatise datable to 1322, which survives in a fifteenth-century manuscript in the Herzog-August-Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel. The author of this work was engaged in a heated argument with the Parisian philosopher Jean de Jandun over the status and rationality of astrology. Jean’s pro-astrological stance is documented in a letter dated 28 October 1321, which survives for having been appended to the main treatise. In responding to Jean de Jandun’s letter, the author delivered a trenchant critique of astrology grounded almost entirely in philosophical, as opposed to theological, ideas, addressing issues such as empirical evidence, causality, and contingency. The author’s way of pointing out ruptures between astrology and Aristotelian natural philosophy marks him out as an intellectual precursor to the much better-known anti-astrological polemics written later in the same century by Parisian thinkers such as Nicole Oresme and Heinrich von Langenstein.
first_indexed 2024-03-07T07:18:56Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:d43ce29e-f52d-410e-ac5c-f5de92bbdeb4
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-07T07:18:56Z
publishDate 2019
publisher Brill Academic Publishers
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:d43ce29e-f52d-410e-ac5c-f5de92bbdeb42022-09-02T14:11:08ZGlorious science or “dead dog”? Jean de Jandun and the quarrel over astrology in fourteenth-century ParisJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:d43ce29e-f52d-410e-ac5c-f5de92bbdeb4EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordBrill Academic Publishers2019Nothaft, CPEThis article edits and examines a little-known epistolary treatise datable to 1322, which survives in a fifteenth-century manuscript in the Herzog-August-Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel. The author of this work was engaged in a heated argument with the Parisian philosopher Jean de Jandun over the status and rationality of astrology. Jean’s pro-astrological stance is documented in a letter dated 28 October 1321, which survives for having been appended to the main treatise. In responding to Jean de Jandun’s letter, the author delivered a trenchant critique of astrology grounded almost entirely in philosophical, as opposed to theological, ideas, addressing issues such as empirical evidence, causality, and contingency. The author’s way of pointing out ruptures between astrology and Aristotelian natural philosophy marks him out as an intellectual precursor to the much better-known anti-astrological polemics written later in the same century by Parisian thinkers such as Nicole Oresme and Heinrich von Langenstein.
spellingShingle Nothaft, CPE
Glorious science or “dead dog”? Jean de Jandun and the quarrel over astrology in fourteenth-century Paris
title Glorious science or “dead dog”? Jean de Jandun and the quarrel over astrology in fourteenth-century Paris
title_full Glorious science or “dead dog”? Jean de Jandun and the quarrel over astrology in fourteenth-century Paris
title_fullStr Glorious science or “dead dog”? Jean de Jandun and the quarrel over astrology in fourteenth-century Paris
title_full_unstemmed Glorious science or “dead dog”? Jean de Jandun and the quarrel over astrology in fourteenth-century Paris
title_short Glorious science or “dead dog”? Jean de Jandun and the quarrel over astrology in fourteenth-century Paris
title_sort glorious science or dead dog jean de jandun and the quarrel over astrology in fourteenth century paris
work_keys_str_mv AT nothaftcpe gloriousscienceordeaddogjeandejandunandthequarreloverastrologyinfourteenthcenturyparis