4. Roger Bacon and Medieval Science

Throughout the Middle Ages there was little interest in theoretical science as such. Not since the Greeks had nature been considered a sufficient object in and of itself for most of the study that we would call scientific. The Middle Ages \u27 concern with nature was not its primary concern. The medievalist was interested in nature either as a mirror of the supernatural or as something which could be used in reaching the supernatural. The reappearance of Aristotle\u27s thought and the development of those practical and technical interests which grew up around the problems of trade and industry demanded a new and different attitude toward the natural world, one quite different from that of previous times. [excerpt