Article ID: CBB001221683

Rhetorical Uses of Mathematical Harmonics in Philo and Plutarch (2012)

unapi

Creese, David (Author)


Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
Volume: 43
Pages: 258--269


Publication Date: 2012
Edition Details: Part of a special issue, “Structures and Strategies in Ancient Greek and Roman Technical Writing”
Language: English

The branch of harmonic science called `canonics' is rarely discussed outside specialist literature in Greek antiquity. Two exceptions are discussed in this paper: one reference to the science and another to its practitioners, both in non-specialist texts (Philo of Alexandria, De opificio mundi 96; Plutarch, Quaestiones convivalesiii.9). Because both texts contain erroneous claims given under the authority of canonics, the interpretation of these references is problematic. The two passages are discussed and compared in an attempt to account for the errors contained in them, and to expose the rhetorical aims of each author and the methods by which the technical terms and concepts of an ancient science could be made to serve very different ends in a non-scientific context.

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Article Doody, Aude; Föllinger, Sabine; Taub, Liba (2012) Structures and Strategies in Ancient Greek and Roman Technical Writing: An Introduction. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science (p. 233). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001221683/

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Authors & Contributors
Bellissima, Fabio
Petrucci, Federico Maria
Wood, Kirsten E.
Siegert, Bernhard
Ptolemy
Petraki, Zacharoula A.
Concepts
Harmony (music theory)
Music
Music theory
Mathematics
Philosophy
Science and music
Time Periods
Ancient
Medieval
19th century
16th century
Early modern
Modern
Places
Greece
United States
Europe
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