Conference "From Ma'ashallah to Kepler"

Conference "From Ma'ashallah to Kepler: The Theory and Practice of Astrology in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance," held at the Warburg Institute, London, UK, from 13-15 November 2008. In both Western and Eastern cultures astrology was regarded as a pure science by most scholars, mathematicians, physicians, philosophers and theologians, and was taught in the schools and colleges. Many of the greatest astronomers of the period under consideration, al-Kindi, Thabit ibn Qurra, Abraham Ibn Ezra, Galileo, Tycho Brahe and Kepler, also wrote about and practised astrology. The tendency in modern scholarship has been to look at the social context of astrology, the attacks on astrologers and their craft, and on astrological iconography and symbolism; i.e. largely looking on astrology from the outside. This conference will look at astrology from the inside. What did astrologers write about their craft? How did they teach their subject and put it into practice? What place did astrology have in universities and academies? Into what cosmological and philosophical frameworks did astrologers fit their ideas? What role did diagrams and illustrations play in astrological text-books? What changes occurred in astrological theory and practice over time and from one culture to another? Time will be reserved for discussing the theoretical and practical aspects of astrology raised by the papers. Speakers: Monica Azzolini, Giuseppe Bezza, Jean-Patrice Boudet, Bernadette Brady, François Charette, Geoffrey Cornelius, Benno van Dalen, Meira Epstein, Miquel Forcada, Dorian Greenbaum, Robert Hand, Stephan Heilen, Jan Hogendijk, Deborah Houlding, David Juste, Lauren Kassell, Gabriel Mancuso, Günther Oestmann, Darrel Rutkin, Julio Samsó, Shlomo Sela, Graeme Tobyn and Stephen Vanden Broecke