The Measure of Reality: Quantification in Western Europe, 1250-1600 is a historiography book on the role of quantification in Western civilization by Alfred W. Crosby, published in 1997 by Cambridge University Press.
| Author | Alfred W. Crosby |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subjects | Historiography |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Publication date | 1997 |
| Pages | 262 |
| ISBN | 978-0-521-55427-5 |
Content
editThe Measure of Reality[1] examines the “whys” and “hows” of European quantitative thinking, suggesting it as a major factor in the ensuing European colonial domination of the rest of the world.[2] For Crosby, this was made possible by a shift in mentalité toward quantitative and visual thinking fostering a superior understanding of science and technology.[3]
The book is divided into three section , where the first introduces a new view of time and space as a continuum that could be subdivided and segmented, assisted by the application of the Hindu–Arabic. The second part follows the evolution of quantification in music, painting, and bookkeeping. The third and final part present the mature 'New Model of European Reality', as established on visualization and quantification.[2]
Crosby adopt the metaphor of the striking match to illustrate how this revolution took place, with the influx of the Aristotelian corpus into the Latin West providing the "oxygen and combustibles" that was then made into fire by "the shift to the visual" operated by composers, painters, and bookkeepers.[3]
The ingredients of this revolution in visualization and quantification were thus the birth of polyphonic music at the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, the development of perspective in the paintings of the Italian Renaissance, and the adoption of double-entry bookkeeping among fourteenth century Italian accountants.[3]
Reception
editThe Measure of Reality is praised as 'a pleasant and informative book' surveying some of the trends of quantification in European society during the period 1250–1600,[2] and for the breadth of the author's scholarship.[4]
A reviewer[5] takes issue with Crosby's program as reported in the dusk jacket of the volume:
"The Measure of Reality discusses the epochal shift from qualitative to quantitative perception in Western Europe during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. This shift made modern science, technology, business practice, and bureaucracy possible. It affected not only the obvious — such as measurements of time and space and mathematical technique — but, equally and simultaneously, music and painting, thus proving that the shift was even more profound than once thought."
For this reviewer Crosby discounts what previous societies achieved by way of mathematics, geometry, and measuring space, time and weights, from the introduction of the zero (Indian) to subdivision in 360 degrees and 60-minute hours ( Babylonian), the Greek Pythagorean theorem, the Julian calendar (Roman) all the way to the ancient Athenian Tholos (a bureau for the registering of weights and scales).[5] For another reviewer while the thesis upheld by Crosby is still in need of a full demonstration the book is deserving and 'full of curious lore that encourages readers to look more closely at the habits of thought on which their way of life is built.'[6]
The work of Crosby is quoted in reviews of Macrohistory in parallel with authors such as Jared Diamond and David Landes.[7]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Crosby, A. W. (1996). The Measure of Reality: Quantification in Western Europe, 1250–1600. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781107050518. ISBN 978-0-521-55427-5.
- ^ a b c Swetz, G. (2000). "The Measure of Reality: Quantification and Western Society, 1250–1600. By Alfred W. Crosby. Cambridge". Historia Mathematica. 27: 303–309.
- ^ a b c Matthews, J. R. (1 October 1998). "Alfred W. Crosby. The Measure of Reality: Quantification and Western Society, 1250–1600. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1997. Pp. xii, 245. $24.95". The American Historical Review. 103 (4): 1214–1215. doi:10.1086/ahr/103.4.1214-a. ISSN 0002-8762.
- ^ Hauser, B. (January 1997). "The Measure of Reality". Magill’s Book Reviews. Salem Press: 1–1.
- ^ a b Brooks, R. C. (Spring 1998). "Alfred W. Crosby, The Measure of Reality: Quantification and Western Society, 1250-1600". Material History Review. 47: 101–103.
- ^ Wilson, J. (June 1998). "The Measure of Reality". Magill’s Literary Annual 1998. Salem Press: 1–2. ISSN 9780893562984.
{{cite journal}}: Check|issn=value (help) - ^ Stokes, G. (2001). "The Fates of Human Societies: A Review of Recent Macrohistories". The American Historical Review. 106 (2). [Oxford University Press, American Historical Association]: 508–525. doi:10.2307/2651616. ISSN 0002-8762.