Newly released

D. A. Di Liscia,
Eine Wiener Exposition zum Traktat De latitutinibus formarum. Edition und Kommentar, Wien 2022.

This book delves into the interpretation of the Tractatus de Latitudinibus Formarum, a widely used text written at the University of Vienna during the 15th century. The doctrine of form latitudes presented in the text aims to explain the numerous variations of qualities. The anonymous author of the commentary discussed in this book addresses the epistemological question of whether the new doctrine of form latitudes constitutes a science. Additionally, the author discusses the well-known theorem of mean velocity, various sophisms in natural philosophy, and the systematic classification of geometrical diagrams for practical use. The edition is based on a copy of the commentary, complete with diagrams, made by Michael Lochmair (d. 1499), a former University of Vienna professor.

A. Axworthy,
Motion and Genetic Definitions in the Sixteenth-Century Euclidean Tradition, Birkhäuser 2022.

Angela Axworthhy investigates the different treatments of motion and genetic definitions (i.e., definitions that characterises geometrical objects through its mode of generation rather than through its essential attributes) by seven major 16th-century commentators on Euclid’s Elements: Oronce Fine, Jacques Peletier, Fraçois de Foix-Candale, Henry Billigsley, John Dee, Federico Commandino, and Christoph Clavius. This book is particularly relevant also for historians of medieval geometry and philosophy of mathematics, since the author shows what role the concept of motion (i.e., local motion and generation) played in conceiving geometrical objects from Antiquity to Early Modern time.

D. A. Di Liscia, E. D. Sylla (eds., with the collaboration of P. J. J. M. Bakker),
Quantifying Aristotle. The Impact, Spread and Decline of the Calculatores Tradition, Brill 2022.

The book gathers 14 essays that shed new light on the link between Aristotelian philosophy and mathematical methods and principles that form the basis of modern science. It surveys the tradition of the Oxford Calculators from its beginnings in the 14th century until Leibniz, exploring how the Calculators’ techniques of quantification expanded the conceptual and methodological limits of Aristotelianism. The authors examine a large number of thinkers and investigate the relationship between various late medieval disciplines.

S. Roudaut,
La mesure de l’être. Le problème de la quantification des formes au Moyen Âge (ca. 1250–1370), Brill 2022.

This book represents a reference point in the study of mathematical thought in the Middle Ages. The author investigates some of the most relevant questions related to the problem of quantifying forms – for instance, how many times does a body under constant acceleration travel in the second half of its motion the distance covered in the first half of it? Crucial aspects of the scientific thought are explored, diving into the meaning of key-notions (like intensification, degree, and latitude) and showing their use within the scientific, philosophical, and theological context.

I. Caiazzo, C. Macris, A. Robert (eds.),
Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Brill 2021.

The volume is not only dedicated to the ‘Medieval Pythagoras’ in the Latin West, but it also explores the survival of Pythagoreanism in the Arabic, Jewish, and Persian cultures. It is divided into four parts, each one addressing a fundamental theme in the Pythagorean legacy: number theory and the sciences of the quadrivium, ethics, theology and metaphysics, psychology.

L. Corry, Distributivity-Like Results in the Medieval Traditions of Euclid’s Elements: Between Geometry and Arithmetic, Springer 2021.

This book deals with a specific aspect of Euclidean geometry in medieval mathematical texts, that is, the role and presence of distributivity-like properties. Leo Corry investigates the link between geometry and arithmetic, unveiling the rise of algebraic modes of thought. Islamicate, Latin, and Hebrew mathematical traditions are discussed.

D. A. Di Liscia,Eine Wiener Exposition zum Traktat De latitutinibus formarum. Edition und Kommentar, Wien 2022.

A. Axworthy, Motion and Genetic Definitions in the Sixteenth-Century Euclidean Tradition, Birkhäuser 2022.

D. A. Di Liscia, E. D. Sylla (eds., with the collaboration of P. J. J. M. Bakker), Quantifying Aristotle. The Impact, Spread and Decline of the Calculatores Tradition, Brill 2022.

S. Roudaut, La mesure de l’être. Le problème de la quantification des formes au Moyen Âge (ca. 1250–1370), Brill 2022.

I. Caiazzo, C. Macris, A. Robert (eds.),Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Brill 2021.