Publications

2019
Beyond Archimedes: The History and Future of the Arboreal Software. In: Culture and Cognition: Essays in Honor of Peter Damerow. Berlin: Edition Open Access ; 2019. pp. 221-245. schiefsky_190705.pdf
2016
Zhou S, Livingston I, Schiefsky M, Shieber S, Gajos KZ. Ingenium: Engaging Novice Students with Latin Grammar. 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 2016 :944-956. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Reading Latin poses many difficulties for English speakers, because they are accustomed to relying on word order to determine the roles of words in a sentence. In Latin, the grammatical form of a word, and not its position, is responsible for determining the word's function in a sentence. It has proven challenging to develop pedagogical techniques that successfully draw students' attention to the grammar of Latin and that students find engaging enough to use. Building on some of the most promising prior work in Latin instruction-the Michigan Latin approach--and on the insights underlying block-based programming languages used to teach children the basics of computer science, we developed Ingenium. Ingenium uses abstract puzzle blocks to communicate grammatical concepts. Engaging students in grammatical reflection, Ingenium succeeds when students are able to effectively decipher the meaning of Latin sentences. We adapted Ingenium to be used for two standard classroom activities: sentence translations and fill-in-the-blank exercises. We evaluated Ingenium with 67 novice Latin students in universities across the USA. When using Ingenium, participants opted to perform more optional exercises, completed translation exercises with significantly fewer errors related to word order and errors overall, as well as reported higher levels of engagement and attention to grammar than when using a traditional text-based interface.

ingenium.pdf
2015
Schiefsky MJ. Technē and Method in Ancient Artillery Construction: The Belopoeica of Philo of Byzantium. In: Holmes B, Fischer K-D The Frontiers of Ancient Science. Berlin: De Gruyter ; 2015. pp. 613-651.Abstract

Abstract: In his Belopoeica, Philo of Byzantium presents artillery construction (belopoiikē) as a kind of expertise or technē that possesses a standardized method for attaining success. I describe this method, which consists of a set of procedures and rules that are systematically organized on the basis of general principles, and discuss Philo’s claim that its discovery depended crucially on experience (peira). In the second part of the Belopoeica Philo presents several designs for artillery engines that allegedly improve on the standard method. I discuss these designs, which draw on both natural philosophy and theoretical mechanics, and conclude with a brief attempt to place Philo’s picture of artillery construction as a technē involving both experience and theory in the context of roughly contemporary views of technē in philosophy and medicine. 

philo_belopoeica_2015-01-29.pdf
2014
Schiefsky MJ. The Epistemology of Ptolemy's "On the Criterion". In: Lee M-K Strategies of Argument: Essays in Ancient Ethics, Epistemology, and Logic. Oxford: Oxford University Press ; 2014. pp. 301-331. ptolemy_criterion.pdf
2012
Schiefsky MJ. The Creation of Second-Order Knowledge in Ancient Greek Science as a Process in the Globalization of Knowledge. In: J. Renn, ed., The Globalization of Knowledge in History. Berlin: Edition Open Access, Max Planck Research Library for the History and Development of Knowledge ; 2012. Publisher's Version globalization_chap.8.pdf
Schiefsky MJ. Galen and the Tripartite Soul. In: Barney R, Brennan T, Brittain C Plato and the Divided Self. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ; 2012. pp. 331-349. galen_tripartite.pdf
2008
Schiefsky MJ. Theory and Practice in Heron's Mechanics. In: W. R. Laird and S. Roux, eds., Mechanics and Natural Philosophy before the Scientific Revolution. Vol. 254. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Dordrecht: Springer ; 2008. pp. 15-49. Theory_and_Practice_in_Herons_Mechanics.pdf
2007
Galen's Teleology and Functional Explanation. Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy. 2007;33 :369-400. galen_osap_2007.pdf
Schiefsky MJ. Art and Nature in Ancient Mechanics. In: Bensaude-Vincent B, Newman W The Artificial and the Natural: An Evolving Polarity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press ; 2007. pp. 67-108. art_and_nature.pdf
2005
Schiefsky MJ. The Appeal of Ancient Medicine for Today's Doctors. The Lancet. 2005;366 (9480) :113-114. lancet_2005.pdf
Schiefsky MJ. On Ancient Medicine on the Nature of Human Beings. In: Hippocrates in Context: Papers Read at the XIth International Hippocrates Colloquium, University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Leiden, Boston: Brill ; 2005. hippocrates_in_context.pdf
Schiefsky MJ. Technical Terminology in Greco-Roman Treatises on Artillery Construction. In: T. Fögen, ed., Antike Fachtexte/Ancient Technical Texts. Berlin: De Gruyter ; 2005. pp. 253-270. artillery.pdf
Hippocrates On Ancient Medicine: Translated with Introduction and Commentary. Leiden: Brill; 2005.Abstract

The Hippocratic treatise On Ancient Medicine, a key text in the history of earlyGreek thought, mounts a highly coherent attack on the attempt to base medical practice on principles drawn from natural philosophy. This volume presents an up-to-date Greek text of On Ancient Medicine, a new English translation, and a detailed commentary that focuses on questions of medical and scientific method; the introduction sets out a new approach to the problem of the work's relationship to its intellectual context and addresses the contentious issues of its date, authorship, and reception. The book will be of interest to scholars of ancient medicine and ancient philosophy, as well as anyone concerned with the history of science and scientific method in antiquity.