Divine Ideas, Aristotelian Science: Robert Grosseteste and the Theory of Scientia

Abstract

Grosseteste was perhaps the first medieval Latin-speaker to comment extensively on Posterior Analytics. There are references, however, to Postenor Analytic:, in the period immediately before Grosseteste, though these references show no extensive use, familiarity, or grasp of the text. Grosseteste himself was an incredibly productive translator and commentator, addressing himself extensively to the Bible, the works of Pseudo Dionysius, as well as several texts of Aristotle—most notably the Ethics. However, it is because Grosseteste became the first lecturer to the Franciscans at Oxford (as well as Oxford’s first chancellor) that his influence was felt as deeply and as long as it was.