Scientific method in Ptolemy's Harmonics / Andrew Barker.

Author
Barker, Andrew, 1943-2021 [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Description
viii, 281 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Firestone Library - Classics Collection MT5.5.P823 B37 2000 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Summary note
    "The science called 'harmonics' was one of the major intellectual enterprises of Greek antiquity. Ptolemy's treatise seeks to invest it with new scientific rigour; its consistently sophisticated procedural self-awareness marks it as a key text in the history of science. This book is the first sustained methodological exploration of Ptolemy's project. After an analysis of his explicit pronouncements on the science's aims and the methods appropriate to it, it examines Ptolemy's conduct of his complex investigation in detail, concluding that despite occasional uncertainties, the declared procedure is followed with remarkable fidelity. Ptolemy pursues tenaciously his novel objective of integrating closely the project's theoretical and empirical phases and shows astonishing mastery of the concept, the design and (it is argued) the conduct of controlled experimental tests. By opening up this neglected text to historians of science, the book aims to provide a fresh point of departure for wider studies of Greek scientific method."--Jacket.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (p. 270-273) and indexes.
    Contents
    • 1. Introduction
    • 2. Reason and perception
    • 3. Pitch and quantity
    • 4. The ratios of the concords: (1) the Pythagoreans
    • 5. The ratios of the concords: (2) Ptolemy's hupotheseis
    • 6. Critique of Aristoxenian principles and conclusions
    • 7. Ptolemy on the harmonic divisions of his predecessors
    • 8. Melodic intervals: hupotheseis, derivations and adjustments
    • 9. Larger systems: modulations in music and in method
    • 10. The instruments
    • 11. The tests
    • 12. Harmonics in a wider perspective.
    ISBN
    • 0521553725 ((hardback))
    • 9780521553728 ((hardback))
    LCCN
    00028912
    OCLC
    43615825
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