| Squaring the Circle: The War Between Hobbes and Wallis Contributor(s): Jesseph, Douglas M. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0226399001 ISBN-13: 9780226399003 Publisher: University of Chicago Press OUR PRICE: $48.51 Product Type: Paperback Published: January 2000 Annotation: 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. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Mathematics | History & Philosophy - Philosophy | History & Surveys - General |
| Dewey: 510.942 |
| LCCN: 99035819 |
| Series: Science & Its Conceptual Foundations (Paperback) |
| Physical Information: 0.95" H x 6.04" W x 9" (1.31 lbs) 433 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: 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. |