Descartes’s Mathematical Thought (Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science (237))

Covering both the history of mathematics and of philosophy, Descartes's Mathematical Thought reconstructs the intellectual career of Descartes most comprehensively and originally in a global perspective including the history of early modern China and Japan. Especially, it shows what the concept of "mathesis universalis" meant before and during the period of Descartes and how it influenced the young Descartes. In fact, it was the most fundamental mathematical discipline during the seventeenth century, and for Descartes a key notion which may have led to his novel mathematics of algebraic analysis. Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Introduction....Pages 1-9 Front Matter....Pages 11-11 Descartes and Jesuit Mathematical Education....Pages 13-44 The Mathematical Thought of Christoph Clavius....Pages 45-93 The First Attempt at Reforming Mathematics....Pages 95-157 The Mathematical Background of the Regulae ad Directionem Ingenii ....Pages 159-203 The Géométrie of 1637....Pages 205-280 Interim Consideration....Pages 281-285 Front Matter....Pages 287-287 ‘Universal Mathematics’ in Aristotle....Pages 289-331 ‘Mathesis Universalis’ in the Sixteenth Century....Pages 333-358 ‘Mathesis Universalis’ in the Seventeenth Century....Pages 359-418 Conclusion....Pages 419-438 Back Matter....Pages 439-496