Renaissance
New developments in optics played a role in the inception of the Renaissance, both by challenging long-held metaphysical ideas on perception, as well as by contributing to the improvement and development of technology such as the camera obscura and the telescope. At the start of the Renaissance, Roger Bacon, Vitello, and John Peckham each built up a scholastic ontology upon a causal chain beginning with sensation, perception, […]
Middle Ages
Due to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the 5th century saw an intellectual decline and knowledge of Greek conceptions of the world deteriorated in Western Europe.[15]: 194 During the period, Latin encyclopedists such as Isidore of Seville preserved the majority of general ancient knowledge.[77] In contrast, because the Byzantine Empire resisted attacks from invaders, they were able to preserve and improve prior learning.[15]: 159 John […]