| Gersonides: A Portrait of a Fourteenth-Century Philosopher-Scientist Contributor(s): Glasner, Ruth (Author) |
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ISBN: 0198735863 ISBN-13: 9780198735861 Publisher: Oxford University Press (UK) OUR PRICE: $76.00 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: July 2015 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Religion | Judaism - History - Philosophy | Logic |
| Dewey: 296.092 |
| LCCN: 2014951224 |
| Physical Information: 0.7" H x 5.5" W x 8.5" (0.7 lbs) 152 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Gersonides was a highly original Jewish philosopher, scientist and biblical exegete, active in Provence in the first half of the fourteenth century. Ruth Glasner explores his impressive achievements, and argues that the key to understanding his originality is his perspective as an applied mathematical scientist. It was this perspective that led him to examine Aristotelianism from directions different from those usually adopted by contemporary scholastic scholars. Gersonides started on his way, as he himself claims, as a 'mathematician, natural scientist, and philosopher', who believed in his power to solve the main problems of medieval science. He ended up concentrating on his work as a mathematical astronomer, developing techniques of observation and computation, and somewhat less optimistic about the prospect of scientific knowledge. |