Optics in the Middle Ages: Alhacen Edition, 6

项目总结智力的优点阿尔哈森的第六卷的关键版本在这里建议构成一个长期计划的下一个阶段，对该论文的所有七本书进行批判性编辑。这部作品最初由Ibn al-Haytham在11世纪初创作，名为Kitab al-Manazir(“光学之书”)，在1200年左右被翻译成拉丁文，标题为de Aspectibus，归因于“Alhacen”。从物理光理论和光线几何学到视觉感知的生理学和心理学，它是对光学的一种彻底的处理，它代表了亚里士多德的物理学和心理学、欧几里得-托勒密数学光学和伽利安解剖学和生理学的伟大综合。更重要的是，它在内容和方法上都比它的希腊化和希腊化来源有了显著的进步。因此，它为拉丁西方的光学和视觉分析提供了主导范式，直到17世纪初，它的理论基础被开普勒、笛卡尔和惠更斯等人破坏。到目前为止，涉及一般视觉感知的1-3本书已经出版，而关于反思的基本原理的4-5本书也即将出版。第六卷的版本应该在2007年底之前出版。广泛的影响除了它对光学历史和整个科学史的意义之外，它在这些学科的技术限制之外的领域的重要性早已被认识到。至少追溯到欧文·帕诺夫斯基，艺术历史学家们已经意识到阿尔哈辛的视觉知觉理论在中世纪和文艺复兴时期艺术规范的发展中所起的关键作用。同样，阿尔哈森对哲学和神学思想的影响也越来越受到关注，最近的文学研究也证明了他在中世纪和文艺复兴时期诗歌中的各种比喻发展中的影响。此外，心理学家越来越感兴趣的是阿尔哈森对空间知觉的心理学方面的强调，特别是在大小和距离决定方面。因此，这个版本的《方面》有相当广泛的受众，拉丁文文本主要是专家感兴趣的，英语翻译和评论是专家和非专家都感兴趣的。为了确保尽可能广泛的传播，这一版本，就像它的两个前身一样，将由PI以可供出版的格式汇编，以减少最后印刷版本的费用。此外，PI将探索最终以数字格式制作整个版本的可能性，以提高可访问性和搜索性。最后，就其最广泛的影响而言，这种研究揭示了西方知识传统在中世纪阿拉伯来源及其所传达的思想和方法中是多么根深蒂固。这些来源从哲学和神学到天文和数学，其中一些来源的影响已经有了很好的记录。但是，随着一些已知或理解的来源，如这一条，被公之于众，越来越明显的是，东西方政治和文化关系产生了比通常认为的不可调和的敌意和拒绝更丰富的成果。简而言之，这项研究应该有助于破除这种简单化的、错误的、最终具有腐蚀性的假设。它还应该有助于破除任何挥之不去的观念，即阿拉伯文化本质上是落后的，而且一直是落后的。

PROJECT SUMMARYIntellectual Merits The critical edition of book 6 of Alhacen's De aspectibus proposed here constitutes the nextstage of a long-term plan to critically edit all seven books of that treatise. Originally composedby Ibn al-Haytham in the early eleventh century and entitled Kitab al-Manazir ("Book of Optics")in Arabic, this work was translated into Latin around 1200 under the title De aspectibus andascribed to "Alhacen." A soup-to-nuts treatment of optics, from physical light-theory and ray geometry to the physiology and psychology of visual perception, it represents a grand synthesis of Aristotelian physics and psychology, Euclidean-Ptolemaic mathematical optics, and Galenic anatomy and physiology. More than that, though, it represents a significant advance beyond its Hellenic and Hellenistic sources at the level of both content and methodology. As such, it provided the dominant paradigm for optical and visual analysis in the Latin West until the early seventeenth century, when its theoretical foundations were undermined by the likes of Kepler, Descartes, and Huygens. To this point, books 1-3, which deal with visual perception ingeneral, have already been published, and books 4-5, on the basic principles of reflection, aresoon to be published. The edition of book 6 should be in print by late 2007.Broader ImpactsAside from its significance for the history of optics in particular and the history of science ingeneral, the De aspectibus has long been recognized for its importance in fields outside thetechnical limits of those disciplines. Going back at least to Erwin Panofsky, art historians havebeen aware of the crucial role Alhacen's theory of visual perception played in the developmentof medieval and Renaissance artistic norms. Likewise, Alhacen's influence on philosophicaland theological thought has come increasingly to attention, and recent literary studies havetraced his influence in the development of various tropes within medieval and Renaissancepoetry. Of increasing interest among psychologists, moreover, is Alhacen's emphasis on thepsychological aspects of spatial perception, particularly in regard to size- and distance determination.There is thus a fairly broad audience for this edition of the De aspectibus, the Latin text being of interest primarily to specialists, the English translation and commentary being of interest to both specialists and non-specialists. To ensure the widest dissemination possible, this edition, like its two forerunners, will be compiled in publish-ready format by the PI to cut down on the expense of the final printed version. In addition, the PI will explore the possibility of eventually producing the entire edition in digital format for greater accessibility and searchability.In terms, finally, of its broadest impact, this sort of study reveals how deeply grounded theWestern intellectual tradition is in medieval Arabic sources and the ideas and approaches theyconvey. These sources run the gamut from philosophical and theological to astronomical andmathematical, and the influence of some of them is already well documented. But, as lesserknown or understood sources, such as this one, are brought to the light of publication, itbecomes increasingly obvious that East-West political and cultural relations have yielded farricher fruit than the implacable hostility and rejection so commonly assumed. This study, inshort, should help put the lie to that simplistic, wrongheaded, and ultimately corrosiveassumption. It should also help put the lie to any lingering notion that Arabic culture is, andalways has been, intrinsically backward.