Richard Swineshead's Theory of Motion

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Richard Swineshead's short treatises on motion offer valuable insights into the evolution of fourteenth-century Oxford's speculative mathematical science of local motion, reflecting the progression of his scientific understanding. While these works clearly draw on the ideas of predecessors William Heytesbury and Thomas Bradwardine, Swineshead's interpretations and developments of their concepts are noteworthy. His two treatises on motion can be viewed as foundational steps leading to the more comprehensive treatise on local motion found in his significant work, the Liber colculationum. Importantly, the texts of these opuscula, as preserved in manuscript copies, should be regarded as reports or student notes from Swineshead's lectures, rather than systematically composed treatises. This perspective also sheds light on the discussions surrounding natural philosophy at the University of Oxford during this period. The critical edition of Swineshead's opuscula on local motion included in this volume, based on all known manuscript copies, serves as a historically significant piece of evidence of later medieval intellectual life.