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SUMMARY:Rolling up the history of a science: Greek musical theorists on th
 eir predecessors - Andrew Barker (University of Birmingham)
DTSTART:20080501T153000Z
DTEND:20080501T170000Z
UID:TALK11558@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lauren Kassell
DESCRIPTION:Like other ancient scientists and philosophers\, Greek musical
  theorists comment from time to time on the work of earlier writers. This 
 paper is an attempt to explore some aspects of their treatment of them\, a
 nd in particular the extent to which we can credit them with a recognisabl
 y 'historical' perspective. I shall first sketch in outline the approaches
  taken by a few individual theorists\, treating them as representative of 
 different schools of thought and different periods. I shall conclude that 
 they show very little sign of interest in the ways in which the discipline
  has developed over time\, in the relative chronology of the predecessors 
 they mention\, or in the ways in which their ideas and approaches differ\;
  and they rarely quote directly from their writings. I shall suggest some 
 broad-brush explanations of why they proceed as they do. Then I shall look
  in rather more detail at one exceptional case. There is one writer who me
 ntions the work of earlier 'authorities' very much more frequently than mo
 st\, and adorns his presentation with a lavish selection of quotations fro
 m them\; the writer is Porphyry\, in his commentary on Ptolemy's _Harmonic
 s_. Aside from his habit of frequent quotation\, however\, we shall find v
 ery similar symptoms even in Porphyry\, and we shall find reasons for pres
 sing the question _why_ he incorporates such a rich harvest of quotations 
 into his text\, as others do not. The reasons he offers himself are thorou
 ghly unconvincing.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, History and Philosophy of Science\, Department o
 f
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