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13 - Exhalations and Other Meteorological Themes

from III - Natural Philosophy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2009

By
Resianne Fontaine
Edited by
Steven Nadler  and
T. M. Rudavsky
Steven Nadler
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Madison
T. M. Rudavsky
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
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Summary

INTRODUCTION

At first sight it might seem surprising to find a chapter on meteorology in a volume devoted to medieval Jewish philosophy. Meteorology, one of the branches of Aristotle’s natural philosophy, is certainly not the first subject that comes to mind when one thinks of medieval Jewish philosophy. Indeed, medieval Jewish scholars were far more occupied with topics deriving from other fields of natural philosophy, such as motion or the soul, than the causes of rain and wind. Nonetheless, there are meteorological notions that raised considerable interest among medieval Jewish thinkers. In the following I shall examine these issues and describe the various contexts in which medieval Jewish savants studied meteorology.

ARISTOTLE’S METEOROLOGY

Aristotle’s Meteorology was, either directly or indirectly, the principle source for meteorological discussions in medieval Jewish philosophy and science. In his proœmium to this treatise Aristotle describes the place of meteorology within the wider framework of his enquiry into the natural world, stating that it follows his investigations of the first causes of nature and natural motion (Physics), the movements of the stars in the heavens (On the Heaven), and the mutual transformations of the elements (On Generation and Corruption). The proœmium concludes with his announcement of his investigations of animals and plants.

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The Cambridge History of Jewish Philosophy
From Antiquity through the Seventeenth Century
 , pp. 434 - 450
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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