The Measure of Reality Quantification in Western Europe, 1250}}}1600 [Hardcover]

This 1997 book discusses the shift to quantitative perception which made modern science, technology, business practice and bureaucracy possible.Western Europeans were among the first, if not the first, to invent mechanical clocks, geometrically precise maps, double-entry bookkeeping, precise algebraic and musical notations, and perspective painting. More people in Western Europe thought quantitatively in the 16th Century than in any other part of the world, enabling them to become the world's leaders. This book discusses the shift from qualitative to quantitative perception which occurred during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.Western Europeans were among the first, if not the first, to invent mechanical clocks, geometrically precise maps, double-entry bookkeeping, precise algebraic and musical notations, and perspective painting. More people in Western Europe thought quantitatively in the 16th Century than in any other part of the world, enabling them to become the world's leaders. This book discusses the shift from qualitative to quantitative perception which occurred during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.Western Europeans were among the first, if not the first, to invent mechanical clocks, geometrically precise maps, double-entry bookkeeping, precise algebraic and musical notations, and perspective painting. More people in Western Europe thought quantitatively in the sixteenth century than in any other part of the world, enabling them to become the world's leaders. With amusing detail and historical anecdote, Alfred Crosby discusses the shift from qualitative to quantitative perception that occurred during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Alfred W. Crosby is the author of five books, including the award-winning Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 (Cambridge, 1986)Part I. Pantometria Achieved: 1. Pantometria, an introduction; 2. The venerable model; 3. Necessary, but insufficient; 4. Time; 5. Space; 6. Mathl%