Publication: Optics and the Rise of Perspective
Dear colleagues,
I am pleased to announce a book
about the diffusion of optics within the network of medieval universities. The
following is a summary of the topics:
Optics and the Rise of Perspective.
A Study in Network Knowledge Diffusion, Oxford, 2014
Why
did linear perspective rise in trecento–quattrocento central Italy rather than
in any other cultural context? This book provides new insight into the question
of the early Italian pioneership in perspective, building on the fact that many
references to optics can be found in Renaissance treatises. The fact that most
of the medieval optical manuscripts were written by Franciscan masters — the
best known among them being Roger Bacon and John Pecham — suggests the need for
a closer look at how the medieval universities (studia generalia) operated.
An in-depth study of recruitment highlights the exceptional mobility of masters
and lectors throughout Europe. However, through the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries, the closer a university was to central Italy, the more cosmopolitan
it was. This is a result of the topology of the academic network, since
cosmopolitanism depends on the studium’s closeness centrality. This is why,
through the masters’ mobility, knowledge circulating in the network
preferentially flowed into central Italy.
This book is a study of the intellectual context in which perspective came to be a key part of visual representation in Western culture and science. It uses a broad spectrum of methods, ranging from the biographies of university scholars and textual concordance to cross-cultural comparison, advanced network analysis and modelling.
This book is a study of the intellectual context in which perspective came to be a key part of visual representation in Western culture and science. It uses a broad spectrum of methods, ranging from the biographies of university scholars and textual concordance to cross-cultural comparison, advanced network analysis and modelling.
Dominique
Raynaud is
a sociologist and historian of science who previously trained as an architect.
He is the author of many articles and books in the field, among which are L’Hypothèse
d’Oxford. Essai sur les origines de la perspective (Paris,
1998), Sociologie des controverses scientifiques (Paris, 2003)
and La Sociologie et sa vocation scientifique (Paris, 2006).
CONTENTS
List
of Tables and Illustrations
Notations
Acknowledgements
INTRODUCTION
1. First Steps
Towards Linear Perspective
Assisi's Frescoes
Practical and Theoretical Perspective
2. Frescoes'
Commissioners
The Minister General
The Minister's Academic Training
3. Outline of
this Book
Notes
CHAPTER 1
Perspective and its Optical Backing
1.
Insignificant Factors
Third-ranking Factors
Second-ranking Factors
2. The Main
Factor: Availability of Optics
Classical, Arabic and Latin Optics
Optics and the Translatio Studiorum
3. Academic vs.
Private Interest in Optics
Optics Outside the Quadrivium
Two Testimonies
Notes
PART I: WHY DID OPTICS NOT LEAD TO
PERSPECTIVE IN MEDIEVAL ISLAM?
CHAPTER 2
The Axiological Foundations of
Perspective
1. Arabic
Theoretical Knowledge on Perspective
The Perspective of the Circle
Intersecting the Visual Pyramid
The Route to the Vanishing Point
The Rectilinear Propagation of Light
2. Arabic
Disregard for Practical Perspective
The Sociability Factor: Artisans and Scientists
The Religious Factor: Presumed Aniconism
The Axiological Factor: Overt Antirealism
Conclusion
Notes
PART II: WHY DID PERSPECTIVE ARISE
IN CENTRAL ITALY?
CHAPTER 3
Academic Recruitment and Mobility
1. Optics
Diffusion Actors
The Distribution of Manuscripts
A Critical Assessment
Distributions Compared to Ecclesiastic Institutions
Localization of Manuscripts
Displaced MSS
Undisplaced MSS
2. Mobility and
Recruitment of Lectors
The Organization of Studia Generalia
Masters and Lectors
Estimating Cosmopolitanism
3. Territorial
Organization
Studia, Custodies and Provinces
Academic Recruitment Pools
Notes
CHAPTER 4
The Studia Generalia Network
1. A Small
World Hypothesis
Devising the Academic Network
The Distinctive Properties of Social Networks
Modelling the Academic Network
2. Centrality
and Cosmopolitanism
1. Degree Centrality
2. Betweenness Centrality
3. Closeness Centrality
4. Constraint and Transitivity
5. The Law of Cosmopolitanism/Closeness
3. Special
Communities and Vertices
1. Structural Equivalence
2. Network Hierarchical Clustering
3. Network Dynamic Partition
4. Reticular Roles
Notes
CHAPTER 5
Knowledge Diffusion Simulation
1. Diffusion
and Social Networks
On Random Modelling
Network Simulation
2. University
Network Specific Properties
The Distribution of Optical Manuscripts
Limits of the Present Analysis
3. General
Properties of the University Network
Six Properties
Zelanti's Spatial Distribution
Neo-Augustinism Spatial Distribution
4. Concluding
Remarks on the Diffusion Process
Basic Assumptions
Adopters and Critical Mass
Laws and Empirical Data
Explaining Diffusion Curve Irregularities
Discretness of Social Networks
Heterogeneity of Social Networks
Anisotropy of Social Networks
Notes
APPENDIX 1
List of OFM University Lectors
1. Lectors at
the Studium Oxoniense (1229-1345)
2. Lectors at
the Studium Parisiense (1231-1320)
3. Lectors at
the Studium Bononiense (1223-1369)
Notes
APPENDIX 2
List of OFM Universities
APPENDIX 3
List of OFM Provinces
1. Provinciale Ordinis
Fratrum Minorum Vetustissimus Secundum Codicem Vaticanum Nr. 1960
2. Translation. Register of
the Franciscan Provinces From MS. Vatican No. 1960
Notes
Bibliography
Index
of Names
Subject
Index
Wishing you a pleasant reading!
Sincerely
yours,
Dominique Raynaud
Université de Grenoble Alpes
Philosophie, Langages & Cognition
– PLC EA 3699
Bat. ARSH 2
Domaine universitaire
38040 Grenoble Cedex 9
☎︎
+33 (0)4 76 82 58 00