medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Ms B M Cook <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> The standard list of the Seven Liberal Arts is (IIRC)
>
> Trivium
> Grammar; Rhetoric; Logic.
> Quadrivium.
> Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, Astronomy.
>
> With Theology as their Queen.
Subordinated as servants (ancillae) to Theology, or to Philosophy or to Wisdom
(Sapientia), yet there were also other allegorical notions of this kind (e.g.
seven columns of the House of Wisdom).
> Two questions > (1) Are the Seven Liberal Arts the SAME as the Seven Liberal
> Sciences ? (If not, what ARE the 7 Liberal Sciences ?)
In general, yes, they were the same. They were usually termed "artes" but could
also be named "scientiae" when the difference between "ars" and "scientia" was
not a concern. However, also other sciences could be termed "liberales",
according to Albert the Great the only truely liberal science was anyway
Philosophia (Metaph. lib. I, tract. II, cap. VII), and I would not exclude the
possibility that some scholastic authors in their 'divisones scientiarum' might
have tried to establish a number of seven "liberal sciences" in parallel to the
seven liberal arts, but the traditional canon did not include this concept.
> (2) Is there any correlation between the Seven Liberal Whatsits and the Seven
> (anciently known) Planets ? (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
> )
Dante elaborates on this concept in the second book of his Convivio (II, xiii,
2ff. and xiv). His commentators have adduced precedents in Ristoro d'Arezzo
(Composizione del mondo II, viii, 6) and Alexander Neckam (De naturis rerum,
cap. 173) and Michael Scotus (Liber introductorius), see Thomas Ricklin in his
commentary to Conv. II, xiii, 2 (p. 242f.), and remotely similar parallels have
also been adduced in Ibn Arabi, see Anca Vasiliu, La parole 'diaphane' chez
Dante (Convivio II et III), in: Archives d'histoire littéraire et doctrinale du
Moyen Age 64 (1997), p.189-212, p.197.
Kind regards, O.L.
Dr. Otfried Lieberknecht
D-48157 Münster
Dorbaumstr. 86
Tel. +49 (0) 173 864 7127
[log in to unmask]
http://www.lieberknecht.de
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|