Literature, Logic and Mathematics in the Fourteenth Century.

Author/Editor
Baker, David Philip.

Title
Literature, Logic and Mathematics in the Fourteenth Century.

Published
Ph. D. Dissertation. Durham University, 2013. Open access at http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7716/ (accessed January 28, 2023).

Review
From Baker's abstract: "This thesis assesses the extent to which fourteenth-century Middle English poets were interested in, and influenced by, traditions of thinking about logic and mathematics. It attempts to demonstrate the imaginative appeal of the logical problems called 'sophismata,' which postulate absurd situations while making use of a stable but evolving, and distinctly recognisable, pool of examples . . . . Clarifying the "sophismatic method" as an important aspect of the "symbiotic relationship" of medieval logic and mathematics, Baker tells us, he goes on to study "the prominence of logical and mathematical tropes and scenarios in the works of . . . Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower and the 'Gawain'-poet," treating "The Summoner's Tale," "The Nun's Priest's Tale," "Troilus and Criseyde," "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," "Pearl," and "Patience," as well as the "Confessio Amantis," addressing in these works, "problematic promises; problematic reference to non-existent things; problems associated with divisibility, limits and the idea of a continuum; and, most importantly, problems focused on the contingency, or otherwise, of the future." In Chapter 3, "Causation and the Future in the 'Confessio Amantis'" (pp. 186-239), Baker suggests that Gower's familiarity with these concerns relates to his acquaintance with Ralph Strode, perhaps evinced in "Eneidos, Bucolis," the authorship of which Baker explores. Whether written by Strode or by Gower himself, Baker argues, the "Eneidos" represents "Gower’s attempt to recover for his audience the 'philosophical dimension'" of the CA in order to help escape "the distinction between 'moral' and 'philosophical' . . . with which Chaucer had unfortunately trapped him" (197) at the end of "Troilus." Baker then demonstrates the depth of concern with philosophical issues in CA by discussing causation, future contingency, aging, mutation, dicing, probability, chance, and determinism in the poem. In several of these discussions, Baker illuminates Gower's work by expanding on Nicolette Zeeman's comparison of CA with "the widely-circulated pseudo-Ovidian 'De vetula' of the thirteenth century" (197), a work Baker aligns with medieval logicians on his way to demonstrating successfully that Gower should not be considered only a moral poet. [MA].

Date
2013

Gower Subjects
Confessio Amantis
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations
Minor Latin Poetry