Robert Grosseteste

Robert Grosseteste (c. 1170–1253) was an English bishop, theologian, philosopher, and natural philosopher. As bishop of Lincoln, he promoted learning and wrote on theology, optics, mathematics, and the natural world.

Medieval philosophy: Philosophical inquiry in Europe and the Mediterranean during the medieval period. Grosseteste developed his ideas within medieval debates about knowledge, nature, and theology.
De luce: Grosseteste’s treatise explaining the creation and structure of the cosmos through the propagation of light. It presents his distinctive account of how light generates the extended physical world.
University of Oxford: A collegiate research university in Oxford, England, whose teaching institutions developed during the Middle Ages. Grosseteste is associated with Oxford’s early intellectual life and traditions of study.
Roger Bacon: An English Franciscan philosopher who wrote on science, language, and the value of experience. Bacon praised Grosseteste and developed related interests in mathematics, optics, and experimental inquiry.
Augustinian illumination: The view that divine illumination enables human beings to grasp eternal truths. Grosseteste’s theology of light can be compared with this influential account of knowledge.
Scholasticism: A medieval method of inquiry that used reasoned argument to reconcile authoritative texts and competing claims. His teaching and theological writing participated in the university culture of disputation and commentary.
Induction and deduction: Induction reasons from particular observations toward general claims; deduction derives conclusions from premises. Grosseteste described inquiry as moving from effects to causes and testing consequences by reasoning.
Bishop of Lincoln: The diocesan bishop who leads the Church of England diocese of Lincoln. Grosseteste held this office from 1235 until his death in 1253.
Adam Marsh: An English Franciscan theologian and scholar active in the thirteenth century. Marsh was part of the scholarly circle linked to Grosseteste and Oxford.
Aristotle’s cosmology: Aristotle’s account of the ordered universe, including its celestial spheres and natural motions. Grosseteste’s light-based cosmology differed from central features of Aristotle’s physical universe.

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