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20 - Cosmography

from Part III - Dividing the Study of Nature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

By
Klaus Vogel  and
Alisha Rankin
Edited by
Katharine Park  and
Lorraine Daston
Katharine Park
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Lorraine Daston
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin
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Summary

In the early sixteenth century, “geography” was not yet a well-established science. Thus, it was quite remarkable that Erasmus of Rotterdam (ca. 1469–1536), one of the era’s leading theologians and humanists, introduced the first Greek edition of the Geography of Ptolemy (ca. 100–170), published in Basel in 1533, by claiming that “hardly any other of the mathematical disciplines is more attractive or more necessary.” Erasmus called attention to the changing status of this newly emerging area of study and emphasized its importance. Only recently, he argued, had traditional limits of knowledge been overcome and scholastic speculations transformed into a clear new view of the earth:

Earlier, there were more difficulties, since it was unclear if the heavens had a spherical form; since some believed that the world swam in the ocean as a ball swims in water, with only its tip showing and the rest covered with water; and since the men who spread this art in their writings also erred in many other things. Now that the thread has been laid by many others, but especially by Ptolemy, with whose guidance every man can easily find his way out of this labyrinth, the path is paved for you to reach the pinnacle of this art quickly and without deviation. Those who disregard it must frequently speculate hopelessly, in the interpretation of respected authors.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Science , pp. 469 - 496
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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