Article ID: CBB948237132

Chasing the Light: What Happened to the Ancient Theories? (2019)

unapi

In the course of contemporary investigations into the history of optics, it is claimed that the study of light in antiquity was subordinated to the study of sight. Though previous scholarship allowed some conceptual space for an autonomous study of light, such an approach remains a largely unexplored possibility. This essay investigates further the possibility of a luminocentric as opposed to the oculocentric approach to ancient optics. On the basis of evidence from the Platonic Timaeus, it argues for the existence of a proper physics of light in the ancient world. If the argument is correct, the ancient physics of light ought to be part of a comprehensive and systematic history of optics.

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Article A. Mark Smith (2019) Seeing the Light: A Response to “Chasing the Light”. Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 283-289). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB948237132/

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Authors & Contributors
Di Giacomo, Francesco
Smith, A. Mark
Darrigol, Olivier
Nena Bobovnik
Koons, Benjamin Robert
Burrus, Virginia
Concepts
Light
Optics
Senses and sensation; perception
Physics
Eyes; sight organs
Soul (philosophy)
Time Periods
Ancient
Medieval
17th century
Early modern
19th century
13th century
Places
Greece
Rome (Italy)
Institutions
Ikhwān al-Ṣafā (Brethren of Purity)
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