Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy Secondary Sources

Many secondary sources are simplistic, inaccurate, or vague, so be careful selecting them since they can generate more obscurity and confusion than clarity. Secondary sources on the internet and very brief sources are especially unreliable. It can be difficult to find sources for undergraduates that aren’t overly complex and technical. If you need help clarifying certain issues in our readings or in a paper you are writing, I would recommend starting with the articles in the electronic encyclopedias below, which are briefer than most other sources though generally quite reliable. I would also recommend the chapters in the multivolume Routledge History of Philosophy, and the secondary sources listed at the end of the introductions to each of the sections in our book. Finally, Grant’s Physical Science in the Middle Ages is a relatively short book on the emergence of the concept of mechanism, focusing on Galileo’s late medieval precursors.

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy – accessible online through the SCSU Library website, password required

http://0-www.rep.routledge.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

http://www.iep.utm.edu/

Routledge History of Philosophy, ed. G. H. R. Parkinson and S. G. Shanker, vols. 1-4 (London: Routledge, 1997), Reference B51.4 .R68 (reference only – can’t be checked out).

Edward Grant, Physical Science in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977).