Knowledge, text and practice in ancient technical writing /

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Bibliographic Details
Imprint:Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2017.
©2017
Description:xiii, 282 pages ; 24 cm
Language:English
Subject:Technical writing -- History and criticism.
Classical literature -- History and criticism.
Technology -- Greece -- History.
Technology -- Rome -- History.
Classical literature.
Technical writing.
Technology.
Greece.
Rome (Empire)
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
History.
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11046064
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:Formisano, Marco, editor.
Eijk, Ph. J. van der (Philip J.), editor.
ISBN:9781107169432
1107169437
Notes:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:The relationship between theory and practice, in other words between norms indicated in a text and their extra-textual application, is one of the most fascinating issues in the history and theory of science. Yet this aspect has often been taken for granted and never explored in depth. The essays contained in this volume provide a complex and nuanced discussion of this relationship as it emerges in ancient Greek and Roman culture in a number of fields, such as agriculture, architecture, the art of love, astronomy, ethics, mechanics, medicine, pharmacology. The main focus is on the textuality of processes of the transmission of knowledge and its application in various fields. Given that a text always contains complex and destabilising aspects that cannot be reduced to the specific subject matter it discusses, to what extent can and do ancient texts support extra-textual applicability?