In Physicam AristotelisAs one of the earliest Western physics teachers, Richard Rufus of Cornwall helped transform Western natural philosophy in the 13th century. But despite the importance of Rufus's works, they were effectively lost for 500 years, and the Physics commentary is the first complete work of his ever to be printed. Rufus taught at the Universities of Paris and Oxford from 1231 to 1256, at the very time when exposure to Aristotle's ibri naturales was revolutionizing the academic curriculum; indeed Rufus gave the earliest surviving lectures on physics and metaphysics. Rufus not only expounded the views of Aristotle and the commentator Averroes, but he also challenged them, and this lively discussion proved to be enormously influential. Rufus rejected Aristotle's theory of projectile motion, and this rival view was later adopted by Franciscus de Marchia. His revised account of the place of the heavens was taken up by Roger Bacon and Thomas Aquinas; and his defence of creation, still considered a cogent reply to Aristotle's claims for a beginningless universe, was to be embraced by both Bacon and Bonaventure. Professor Wood's meticulous edition sheds light on that Crucial period when the medieval West for the first time acquired a comprehensive scientific account of the cosmos. |
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accidens account actu actum actus aliquid aliquo anima APos Aquinas Aristot Aristotelis Aristotle Ave Maria Averroes Avicenna Bacon Boethius caeli caelo caelum causa cause change citatur Colophon consequenter continuum corr Dales Delorme determinat Dicendum dicere dicit differentia divisibile DMet DMut Dubitatur dupliciter efficiens eius essentia esset first forma forsan Grosseteste habet Hoßfeld infinitum inquantum instant intellectus ipsa ipsum Iunt locus logica materia matter medieval Metaph MMet mobile motor motu motum motus movetur natura naturalis non-esse nunc omnibus Oxford pars parte Ph.D philosophia Phys Physics commentary place Plevano ponere possumus potentia potest primo principio principium prius et posterius projectile motion propterea Q8Ph ratione references respectu Richard Rufus Rufus of Cornwall Rupella same scilicet secunda secundum sicut simul sine sive solum sphaera Steele subiecto substantia super supra tamen tempus terminus theology Thomas Aquinas time Toronto transmutatio transmutationis tunc unum videtur views works world