Harvey, Aristotle and the Weather Cycle

Gregory, Andrew

doi:10.1016/s1369-8486(00)00024-8

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Instead, it must circulate. Harvey developed this quantitative argument in reasoning that the rate of blood flow through the heart is too great for supply from the vessels (Gregory, 2001 ). When he went on to explore animal generation, Harvey employed similar links between microcosm and macrocosm.…”

Section: Cycles In Bodies Natural and Politicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cycles and circulation: a theme in the history of biology and medicine

Hopwood

Müller‐Wille

Browne

et al. 2021

HPLS

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We invite systematic consideration of the metaphors of cycles and circulation as a long-term theme in the history of the life and environmental sciences and medicine. Ubiquitous in ancient religious and philosophical traditions, especially in representing the seasons and the motions of celestial bodies, circles once symbolized perfection. Over the centuries cyclic images in western medicine, natural philosophy, natural history and eventually biology gained independence from cosmology and theology and came to depend less on strictly circular forms. As potent ‘canonical icons’, cycles also interacted with representations of linear and irreversible change, including arrows, arcs, scales, series and trees, as in theories of the Earth and of evolution. In modern times life cycles and reproductive cycles have often been held to characterize life, in some cases especially female life, while human efforts selectively to foster and disrupt these cycles have harnessed their productivity in medicine and agriculture. But strong cyclic metaphors have continued to link physiology and climatology, medicine and economics, and biology and manufacturing, notably through the relations between land, food and population. From the grand nineteenth-century transformations of matter to systems ecology, the circulation of molecules through organic and inorganic compartments has posed the problem of maintaining identity in the face of flux and highlights the seductive ability of cyclic schemes to imply closure where no original state was in fact restored. More concerted attention to cycles and circulation will enrich analyses of the power of metaphors to naturalize understandings of life and their shaping by practical interests and political imaginations.

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Section: Cycles In Bodies Natural and Politicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cycles and circulation: a theme in the history of biology and medicine

Hopwood

Müller‐Wille

Browne

et al. 2021

HPLS

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“…Harvey explicitly refers to Aristotle's conception of the weather cycle in discussing the idea of circulation, and it has been suggested that his quantitative argument may have been inspired by Aristotle's discussion (Cf. Gregory 2001). Harvey also relates the circulation of the blood to the cyclic pattern of reproduction whereby species are perpetuated in spite of the mortality of their members.…”

Section: Harvey Aristotelianism and The Mechanical Philosophymentioning

confidence: 99%

Harvey, William

Demarest¹

2020

Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences

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“…quantification. 26 Harvey likened the heart to a pair of water bellows (and not a pump), and did so only in his lecture notes. 27 He said, 'From the structure of the heart it is clear that the blood is constantly carried through the lungs in to the aorta as by two clacks of a water bellows to raise water.'…”

Section: Harvey and Aristotlementioning

confidence: 99%

William Harvey, Aristotle and astrology

Gregory¹

2013

Br J Hist Sci

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In this paper I argue that William Harvey believed in a form of astrology. It has long been known that Harvey employed a macrocosm–microcosm analogy and used alchemical terminology in describing how the two types of blood change into one another. This paper then seeks to examine a further aspect of Harvey in relation to the magical tradition. There is an important corollary to this line of thought, however. This is that while Harvey does have a belief in astrology, it is strongly related to Aristotle's views in this area and is quite restricted and attenuated relative to some contemporary beliefs in astrology. This suggests a more general thesis. While Harvey was amenable to ideas which we associate with the natural magic tradition, those ideas had a very broad range of formulation and there was a limit to how far he would accept them. This limit was largely determined by Harvey's adherence to Aristotle's natural philosophy and his Christian beliefs. I argue that this is also the case in relation to Harvey's use of the macrocosm–microcosm analogy and of alchemical terminology, and, as far as we can rely on the evidence, this informs his attitudes towards witches as well. Understanding Harvey's influences and motives here is important in placing him properly in the context of early seventeenth-century thought.

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Harvey, Aristotle and the Weather Cycle

Cited by 8 publications

References 2 publications

Cycles and circulation: a theme in the history of biology and medicine

Cycles and circulation: a theme in the history of biology and medicine

Harvey, William

William Harvey, Aristotle and astrology

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