INSTRUMENTALITY

From medieval to modern exploring instrumental attitudes toward physical gadgets diagrams concepts methods and disciplines Opening up the instrumental condition of the human for critical reflection and renewal Instrumentality illuminates key moments in the intellectual history of the European Middle Ages J Allan Mitchell reveals how in the predigital past we can recognize many of the operative technics analytics and metaphorics that continue to shape human sense and cognition today Exploring the diverse modalities of medieval instruments Mitchell s case studies encompass techniques as seemingly distinct as time keeping mechanisms mathematical diagrams logical syllogisms and the literary devices of Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower A cultural and intellectual history Mitchell s work leads readers from three dimensional objects physical mechanisms to two dimensional inscriptions maps and diagrams and onward to overarching disciplinary norms in the early liberal and mechanical arts Prying loose the subtle adaptable and generative concept of technical objects from limiting contemporary frameworks he shows how these instruments are indispensable to the past and the future of the arts and culture at large