152 JAMES A. WEISHEIPL 



aware of the guiding role of faith in this matter. The problem 

 of celestial movers was entirely a scientific one having many 

 ramifications. But here, as in other problems of medieval 

 science, it is not sufficient to know what a particular author 

 maintained. It is far more important to understand the scien- 

 tific problem in its philosophical context and to evaluate the 

 arguments leading to the solution proposed. After all, the best 

 of medieval science is not to be found in the lapidaries, herbals 

 or bestiaries of the Middle Ages; least of all is it to be found in 

 pious legends, sermons or morality plays. Rather it is to be 

 found in the speculative commentaries, treatises and disputa- 

 tions of the schoolmen. These writings, emanating largely 

 from various faculties of the university, are not readily intelli- 

 gible to modern readers, as anyone who has tried to read them 

 can testify. To understand the writings of medieval authors 

 one needs a considerable background in the sources, a specu- 

 lative competence to follow the argumentation, and a famili- 

 arity with medieval practice. Neither the questionnaire of the 

 Master General nor the replies of Albertus Magnus, Thomas 

 Aquinas or Robert Kilwardby can be evaluated correctly with- 

 out reference to the sources, the argumentation and medieval 

 practice. 



In a review of Chenu's edition of Kilwardby 's reply to the 

 questionnaire, Fr. Mandonnet noted the similarity between the 

 view of Robert Kilwardby and that of John Buridan, the 

 fourteenth century proponent of " impetus " to explain violent 

 motion. Inspired by the thesis of Duhem's J^tudes sur Leonard 

 de Vinci (3™^ serie) , Mandonnet was quick to point out the 

 modernity of Kilwardby 's universal mechanics.^ This sug- 

 gestion was developed at some length by Fr. Chenu in a special 

 study devoted to the origins of " modern science." ® Whatever 

 may be said of the validity of Duhem's well-known thesis, one 

 may perhaps doubt the utility of isolating a particular medieval 

 thesis — in this case one of dubious modernity — to extol the 



^P. Mandonnet, O. P., Bulletin Thomiste, III (1930), 137-9. 

 ' M.-D. Chenu, O. P., "Aux origines de la ' Science Moderne,' " in Revue des Sc. 

 Phil, et Theol., XXIX (1940), 206-217. 



