MARC Record from marc_columbia

LEADER: 02421cam a22003733i 4500
001 10974063
005 20180618182638.0
006 m o d
007 cr |n||||a||||
008 141006s2014 nyu|||| om 00| ||eng d
035 $a(OCoLC)893604339
035 $a(OCoLC)ocn893604339
035 $a(NNC)ACfeed:legacy_id:ac:176982
035 $a(NNC)ACfeed:doi:10.7916/D8J101B7
035 $a(NNC)10974063
040 $aNNC$beng$erda$cNNC
100 1 $aWebster, Colin.
245 10 $aTechnology and/as Theory :$bMaterial Thinking in Ancient Science and Medicine /$cColin Webster.
264 1 $a[New York, N.Y.?] :$b[publisher not identified],$c2014.
300 $a1 online resource.
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $acomputer$bc$2rdamedia
338 $aonline resource$bcr$2rdacarrier
502 $aThesis (Ph.D.)--Columbia University, 2014.
500 $aDepartment: Classics.
500 $aThesis advisor: Katharina Volk.
520 $aMultiple natural philosophers in antiquity proposed that nature possessed considerable technical skill. Yet, the specific conceptual implications of this assertion were quite different in fourth century BCE Athens--with its pots, bronze tools and cisterns--than in second century CE Rome--where large-scale aqueducts, elaborate water machines and extensive glassworks were commonplace. This dissertation assesses the impact that these different technological environments had on philosophical and scientific theories. In short, it argues that contemporary technologies shaped ancient philosophers' physical assumptions by providing cognitive tools with which to understand natural phenomena. As a result, as technologies evolved--even in relatively modest ways--so too did conceptual models of the natural world. To explore these assertions, this dissertation focuses on two main fields of explanation, the vascular system and vision, and includes investigations of such technologies as pipes, pumps, mirrors, wax tablets, diagrams and experimental apparatuses.
520 $aIt demonstrates the ways in which scientific theorists use the specific material technologies around them as heuristics to conceptualize physical processes.
653 0 $aCivilization, Classical
653 0 $aClassical antiquities
653 0 $aScience
653 0 $aHistory
856 40 $uhttps://doi.org/10.7916/D8J101B7$zClick for full text
852 8 $blweb$hDISSERTATIONS