Instrumentality : On Technical Objects and Orientations in the Later Middle Ages - J. Allan Mitchell

Instrumentality

On Technical Objects and Orientations in the Later Middle Ages

By: J. Allan Mitchell

Hardcover | 22 January 2024

At a Glance

Hardcover


RRP $270.00

$199.80

26%OFF

or 4 interest-free payments of $49.95 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 15 to 25 business days

When will this arrive by?
Enter delivery postcode to estimate

From medieval to modern, exploring instrumental attitudes toward physical gadgets, diagrams, concepts, methods, and disciplines

Opening up the instrumental condition of the human for critical reflection and renewal, Instrumentality illuminates key moments in the intellectual history of the European Middle Ages. J. Allan Mitchell reveals how, in the predigital past, we can recognize many of the operative technics, analytics, and metaphorics that continue to shape human sense and cognition today.

Exploring the diverse modalities of medieval instruments, Mitchell's case studies encompass techniques as seemingly distinct as time-keeping mechanisms, mathematical diagrams, logical syllogisms, and the literary devices of Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower. A cultural and intellectual history, Mitchell's work leads readers from three-dimensional objects (physical mechanisms) to two-dimensional inscriptions (maps and diagrams) and onward to overarching disciplinary norms in the early liberal and mechanical arts. Prying loose the subtle, adaptable, and generative concept of technical objects from limiting contemporary frameworks, he shows how these instruments are indispensable to the past-and the future-of the arts and culture at large.

More in Medieval & Renaissance Philosophy

Letting Go : The Pathway of Surrender - Hawkins David

RRP $24.99

$23.75

Powers and Thrones : A New History of the Middle Ages - Dan Jones
The Complete Essays : Penguin Classics - Michel Montaigne

RRP $45.00

$37.25

17%
OFF
Utopia : Penguin Classics - Thomas More

RRP $17.99

$14.25

21%
OFF
The World As I See It - Albert Einstein

$22.31

Spell Of The Sensuous: Perceptions : Perceptions - David Abram
The Consolation of Philosophy : Penguin Classics - Boethius
Adam Smith : The Theory of Moral Sentiments - Adam Smith

RRP $79.95

$67.90

15%
OFF
Human, All Too Human : Penguin Classics Ser. - Friedrich Nietzsche
Inward : The Inward Trilogy - yung pueblo

RRP $32.99

$29.75

10%
OFF
The Agony of Eros : Volume 1 - Byung-Chul Han
The Bright Ages : A New History of Medieval Europe - Matthew Gabriele
Essays by Montaigne : The Philosophy Classic - Michel De Montaigne
City of God : Penguin Classics - St Augustine

RRP $32.99

$30.25

Humanistic Narratives - Professor Michel  Serres

RRP $130.00

$97.75

25%
OFF
Humanistic Narratives - Professor Michel  Serres

$90.50