The Sublunary Phaenomena as a Subject of Medieval Academic Discussion. Meteorology and the Prague University Disputationes de Quolibet

0474357 - FLÚ 2018 RIV NL eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Kocánová, Barbora
The Sublunary Phaenomena as a Subject of Medieval Academic Discussion. Meteorology and the Prague University Disputationes de Quolibet.
Early Science and Medicine. Roč. 22, č. 1 (2017), s. 72-102. ISSN 1383-7427. E-ISSN 1573-3823
Institucionální podpora: RVO:67985955
Klíčová slova: history of meteorology * Middle Ages * Prague University * Aristotle * disputationes de quolibet
Obor OECD: History (history of science and technology to be 6.3, history of specific sciences to be under the respective headings)
Impakt faktor: 0.452, rok: 2017

Prague university scholars found ten questions (six quaestiones and four probleumata) of medieval meteorology remarkable enough to include them in the agenda of annual ceremonial disputations de quolibet between 1399 and 1417. The disputations resembled rhetoric tournaments where masters of the Faculty of Arts fought with each other using their polemics about scientific and political issues of the time. The six enticing quaestiones mostly concerned topics which were not sufficiently addressed by Aristotle, although they had been discussed extensively since antiquity. Above all, they concerned aspects of optical phaenomena (meteors, comets, halo effect, rainbow). The so-called probleumata, simple topics added to the quaestiones to entertain and refresh the audience, will also be discussed, unlike quaestiones, probleumata rarely referred directly to Aristotle’s work. The present study examines to what extent the sources for quodlibet disputations represent relevant material for the study of the reception of meteorology in medieval education.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0271434