The age of two-faced Janus : : the comets of 1577 and 1618 and the decline of the Aristotelian world view in the Netherlands / / by Tabitta van Nouhuys.

• Superior document: Brill's studies in intellectual history, volume 89
• VerfasserIn: Nouhuys, Tabitta van,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, 1998.
• Year of Publication: 1998
• Language: English
• Series: Brill's studies in intellectual history ; v. 89.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (614 pages)

This volume deals with the tracts, Latin and vernacular, published in the Netherlands on the comets of 1577 and 1618. Central to the book is the question how these cometary appearances influenced the Aristotelian world view. Three introductory chapters on the historiography of cometology and the nature of sixteenth-century Aristotelianism are followed by a detailed examination of the Netherlandish authors' views on the nature and constitution of the universe. In the final chapter, their opinions on cometary prognostication are evaluated, and are linked to contemporary political developments. This is the first lengthy examination of the decline of Aristotelian cosmology in the Netherlands. Its demonstration of the connection between cosmological and political views renders the book useful to historians of general Dutch history, as well as historians of science.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Chapter One: Introduction: Opinio Loquitur, Ratio Respondet? -- Chapter Two: Comets After The Cessation Of Dialogue: A Historiographical Introduction -- Chapter Three: Comets Before The Cessation Of Dialogue -- Chapter Four: Greek Meets Greek: The Culmination Of Dialogue -- Chapter Five: Seneca Saves Aristotle: Cosmology In The Dutch Tracts -- Chapter Six: Cometary Concomitants: Astrology And Teratology In The Dutch Tracts -- Chapter Seven: Conclusion: The Age Of Two-Faced Janus -- Bibliography -- Index.