The Philosophy and Science of Roger Bacon Studies in Honour of Jeremiah Hackett

The Philosophy and Science of Roger Bacon offers new insights and research perspectives on one of the most intriguing characters of the Middle Ages, Roger Bacon. At the intersections between science and philosophy, the volume analyses central aspects of Bacon?s reflections on how nature and society can be perfected. The volume dives into the intertwining of Bacon?s philosophical stances on nature, substantial change, and hylomorphism with his scientific discussion of music, alchemy, and medicine. The Philosophy and Science of Roger Bacon also investigates Bacon?s projects of education reform and his epistemological and theological ground maintaining that humans and God are bound by wisdom, and therefore science. Finally, the volume examines how Bacon?s doctrines are related to a wider historical context, particularly in consideration of Peter John Olivi, John Pecham, Peter of Ireland, and Robert Grosseteste. The Philosophy and Science of Roger Bacon is a crucial tool for scholars and students working in the history of philosophy and science and also for a broader audience interested in Roger Bacon and his long-lasting contribution to the history of ideas.

Introduction 1. Roger Bacon on Nature 2. Roger Bacon on Chance in Natural Generation in the Questiones super octo libros Physicorum Aristotelis 3. Roger Bacon on Substantial Change 4. Roger Bacon on the Conceivability of Matter 5. Ens rationis. Über die vielfache Bedeutung des Gedankendingbegriffs 6. Roger Bacons Idee der Einheit der Wissenschaft und des universalen Friedens 7. Roger Bacon’s New Founding of the Sciences in the Thirteenth Century 8. Sound is not Made of Rays: Roger Bacon’s Rejection of Heavenly Music 9. Roger Bacon’s Medical Alchemy and the Multiplication of Species 10. From Longitudo vitae to Prolungatio vitae: Peter of Ireland and Roger Bacon on Life and Death 11. Bacon/Olivi : un état des lieux 12. The Soul in Roger Bacon and John Pecham 13. Plato’s Unholy Trinity: The life, death and afterlife of the anima mundi in the Middle Ages

Nicola Polloni is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy of KU Leuven, Belgium. He has worked at the Universities of Berlin (HU Berlin), Durham, and Pavia.

Yael Kedar is Senior Faculty Member of Multi-Disciplinary Studies at Tel Hai College, and a research fellow at the University of Haifa. She was previously Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgetown University and Visiting Scholar at Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen.