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Full-Text Articles in Renaissance Studies
"Sapiens Dominabitur Astris": A Diachronic Survey Of A Ubiquitous Astrological Phrase, Justin Niermeier-Dohoney
"Sapiens Dominabitur Astris": A Diachronic Survey Of A Ubiquitous Astrological Phrase, Justin Niermeier-Dohoney
Arts and Communication Faculty Publications
From the late thirteenth through late seventeenth centuries, a single three-word Latin phrase—sapiens dominabitur astris, or “the wise man will be master of the stars”—proliferated in astrological, theological, philosophical, and literary texts. It became a convenient marker denoting orthodox positions on free will and defining the boundaries of the scientifically and morally legitimate practice of astrology. By combining the methodology of a diachronic historical survey with a microhistorical focus on evolving phraseology, this study argues that closely examining the use of this phrase reveals how debates about the meanings of wisdom, free will, determinism, and the interpretation of stellar influence …
Causality In La Mort Le Roi Artu: Free Will, Accident, And Moral Failure, David S. King
Causality In La Mort Le Roi Artu: Free Will, Accident, And Moral Failure, David S. King
Quidditas
The thirteenth-century French La Mort le Roi Artu indicates forthrightly how the Arthurian world comes to an end, but the text leaves less clear what motivates the disaster. Many critics attribute the cause to an external force, God or the goddess Fortune, that obliges Arthur and others to pursue their own destruction. A few offer greater insight into the nature of causality in the romance. They see the characters as exercising some degree of free will or even complete liberty. But these critics err in alienating the notion of free choice from moral concerns. In their reading, the heroes suffer …