Culture in the Balance: The Emergence of a New Model of Equilibrium within Medieval Thought, 1225-1375

乔尔·凯伊，巴纳德学院尽管在中世纪思想中，平等和平衡的理想几乎占据了每一门学科的中心位置，但所采用的平衡模式本身从未作为一个主题被提上议事议程。由于这个原因，现代历史学家到目前为止也没有认识到并把平衡作为一个主要的研究主题。这个项目将平衡的历史从边缘带到探究的中心。虽然相同的词（equitas, equalitas, aequatio, adaequatio， equilibrare等）在整个中世纪时期继续在各个学科中使用，但这些词的定义和过程在高经院哲学时期（约1250-1375）发生了巨大变化。在这一时期，一种新的平衡模型的出现具有深远的意义，它奠定了对宇宙的形式和运作原理进行彻底的重新概念化的基础，并使之成为可能。这一创造的历史重要性，到目前为止很少被认识到，远远超出了中世纪。这个新模型在接下来的几个世纪里仍然具有影响力和活跃，为我们现在认为是“现代”的各种人文和科学学科的推测提供了基础，从伦理和政治思想到天文学、地质学、物理学和医学。在奖学金期间进行的研究和写作是一个已经在进行中的更大的图书项目的一部分。这本书将追踪均衡的新概念模型的出现，并在四个知识领域内检查其含义：学术经济思想，政治思想，自然哲学和医学。奖学金年期间的研究主要集中在中世纪医学领域的主要来源。在这里，平等和平衡的语言无处不在，健康和疾病的定义，元素和体液的活动和循环的模型，植物和药物作用的推测，以及气质和肤色的丰富理论模型，都以平衡的概念为中心。这些来源可以分为六类。1. 在萨勒诺学派的各种作品中发现的关于平衡和健康的早期理论著作（直到13世纪中叶）为观察后来的发展提供了一个基线。2. 阿维森纳（Avicenna）伟大的医学教科书《正典》（Canon）（尤其是第一本书的开头几章）对医学思想和实践背后的哲学原则进行了复杂的讨论。在这里，平衡的概念与元素、幽默、气质和肤色的理论完全交织在一起，以一种影响了几个世纪的方式。3. 13世纪和14世纪对《正典》第一卷的评论，尤其是詹蒂莱·达·福里格诺（Gentile da Foligno，约1340年）和雅各布·达·福里（Jacopo da Forli，约1385年）的评论，提供了一种极好的方法来追踪这种模式随着时间的发展。4. 维拉诺瓦的阿诺德的著作。《盖伦的Tegni》述评。许多较短的论文集中在身体系统内的平衡问题（De complexionibus）和药物剂量的问题作为均衡的问题（De gradibus medicinarum）。

Project AbstractSES Proposal 0137158Culture in the Balance: The Emergence of a New Model of Equilibrium within Medieval Thought, 1225-1375Joel Kaye, Barnard CollegeDespite the central place ideals of equality and equilibrium occupied in virtually every discipline within medieval thought, the model of equilibrium employed was never brought to the fore as a subject of discussion in itself. For this reason, modern historians, too, have so far failed to recognize and treat equilibrium as a primary subject of investigation. This project brings the history of equilibrium from the periphery to thecenter of inquiry.While the same words (equitas, equalitas, aequatio, adaequatio, equilibrare, etc.) continued to be used across disciplines throughout the medieval period, the definitions and processes denoted by these words changed dramatically over the period of high scholasticism, ca. 1250-1375. The emergence of a new model of equilibrium in this period had profound implications, underlying and making possible a thoroughgoingreconceptualization of the form and functioning principles of the cosmos. The historical importance of this creation, little recognized up to this point, extends far beyond the medieval centuries. The new model remained influential and active for centuries to come, providing the foundation for much of what we now consider to be "modern" speculation in a wide variety of humanistic and scientific disciplines, from ethical andpolitical thought, to astronomy, geology, physics, and medicine.The research and writing undertaken during the Fellowship year forms part of a larger book project, already well underway. The book will trace the emergence of a new conceptual model of equilibrium and examine its implications within four intellectual areas: scholastic economic thought, political thought, natural philosophy, and medicine. Research during the Fellowship year is focused upon primary sources in the area of medieval medicine. Here the language of equality and balance is ever present, as definitions of health and sickness, models of the activity and circulation of the elements and humours, speculation on the action of plants and medicines, and the rich theoretical models of the temperaments and complexions, all center on notions of equilibrium. The sources can be divided into six groups. 1. The early theoretical writings (through the mid-thirteenth century) on equilibrium and health found in various works from the School of Salerno provide a base line against which to view later developments. 2. Avicenna's great medical textbook, the Canon (particularly the opening chapters of book 1) provides a sophisticated discussion of the philosophical principles underlying medical thought and practice. Here the concept of equilibrium is thoroughly intertwined with the theory of elements, humours, temperaments, and complexions, in a manner that remains influential for centuries. 3. Thirteenth and Fourteenth-century commentaries on Book I of the Canon, particularly those of Gentile da Foligno (c.1340) and Jacopo da Forli (c.1385), provide an excellent means of tracing the development of the model over time. 4. The writings of Arnald of Villanova. 5. Commentaries on the Tegni of Galen. 6. Numerous shorter treatises focusing on the question of equilibrium within bodily systems (De complexionibus) and the question of medical dosage as a problem in equalization (De gradibus medicinarum).