Squaring the Circle: The War between Hobbes and Wallis (Science and Its Conceptual Foundations series)

In 1655, the philosopher Thomas Hobbes claimed he had solved the centuries-old problem of "squaring of the circle" (constructing a square equal in area to a given circle). With a scathing rebuttal to Hobbes's claims, the mathematician John Wallis began one of the longest and most intense intellectual disputes of all time. Squaring the Circle is a detailed account of this controversy, from the core mathematics to the broader philosophical, political, and religious issues at stake. Hobbes believed that by recasting geometry in a materialist mold, he could solve any geometric problem and thereby demonstrate the power of his materialist metaphysics. Wallis, a prominent Presbyterian divine as well as an eminent mathematician, refuted Hobbes's geometry as a means of discrediting his philosophy, which Wallis saw as a dangerous mix of atheism and pernicious political theory. Hobbes and Wallis's "battle of the books" illuminates the intimate relationship between science and crucial seventeenth-century debates over the limits of sovereign power and the existence of God.

In 1655, the philosopher Thomas Hobbes claimed he had solved the centuries-old problem of squaring of the circle (constructing a square equal in area to a given circle). With a scathing rebuttal to Hobbes's claims, the mathematician John Wallis began one of the longest and most intense intellectual disputes of all time. Squaring the Circle is a detailed account of this controversy, from the core mathematics to the broader philosophical, political, and religious issues at stake.

Hobbes believed that by recasting geometry in a materialist mold, he could solve any geometric problem and thereby demonstrate the power of his materialist metaphysics. Wallis, a prominent Presbyterian divine as well as an eminent mathematician, refuted Hobbes's geometry as a means of discrediting his philosophy, which Wallis saw as a dangerous mix of atheism and pernicious political theory.

Hobbes and Wallis's battle of the books illuminates the intimate relationship between science and crucial seventeenth-century debates over the limits of sovereign power and the existence of God.

Ch. 1. The Mathematical Career Of The Monster Of Malmesbury -- Ch. 2. The Reform Of Mathematics And Of The Universities: Ideological Origins Of The Dispute -- Ch. 3. De Corpore And The Mathematics Of Materialism -- Ch. 4. Disputed Foundations: Hobbes Vs. Wallis On The Philosophy Of Mathematics -- Ch. 5. The Modern Analytics And The Nature Of Demonstration -- Ch. 6. The Demise Of Hobbesian Geometry -- Ch. 7. The Religion, Rhetoric, And Politics Of Mr. Hobbes And Dr. Wallis -- Ch. 8. Persistence In Error: Why Was Hobbes So Resolutely Wrong? -- App. Selections From Hobbes's Mathematical Writings. Douglas M. Jesseph. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. In June of 1645 the English mathematician John Pell wrote to his friend Sir Charles Cavendish seeking assistance in an ongoing controversy with the Danish astronomer-mathematician Christian Severin Longborg, who is better known by his Latinized name Longomontanus.