Pyolemy's philosopphy : mathematics as a way of life / Jacqueline Feke.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Feke, Jacqueline, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ptolemy, active 2nd century.

Ptolemy.

Mathematics--Philosophy.

Mathematics.

Physical Description:

xi, 234 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Prnceton : Princeton University Press, 2018.

Summary:

The Greco-Roman mathematician Claudius Ptolemy is one of the most significant figures in the history of science. He is remembered today for his astronomy, but his philosophy is almost entirely lost to history. This groundbreaking book is the first to reconstruct Ptolemy's general philosophical system--including his metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics-- and to explore its relationship to astronomy, harmonics, element theory, artrology, cosmology, psychology, and theology. In this stimulating intellectual history, Jacqueline Feke uncovers references to a complex and sophiticated philosophical agenda scattered among Ptolemay's technical studies in the physical and mathematical science. She show how he developed a philosophy that was radical and even subversive, appropriating ideas and turrning them against the very philosophers from whom he drew influence. Feke reveals how Ptolemy' unique system is at once a critique of prevailing philosophical trends and a conception of the world in which mathematics reigns supreme. A compelling work of scholarship, Ptolemy's Philosophy demonstrates how Ptolemy situated mathematics at the very foundation of all philosophy--theoretical and practical--and advanced the mathematical way of life as the true path to human perfection.

Contents:

Cover; Title; Copyright; Dedication; CONTENTS; List of Illustrations; Acknowledgement; 1 Introduction; 2 Defining the Sciences; Aristotle's Accounts; Ptolemy's Definitions Are Not Aristotle's; Ptolemy's Aristotelian Definitions; Conclusion; 3 knowledge or Conjecture; Ptolem's Epistemology: Neither Aristotle's nor Plato's; Platonic Epistemology; Ptoley on Opinion and Knowledge; The Indisputability of Mathematical Demonstration; Mathematics' Contribution to Physics and Theology; Conclusion; 4 Mathematics and the Good Life; The Distinction between Theoretical and Practical Philosophy; Virtues; How to Order Actions; Resembling the Divine; Conclusion; 5 Harmonia; Harmonia: What and Where ItIs; The Beauty of Mathematical Objects; Harmonics; Harmonic Ratios in the Human Soul; Harmonic Ratios in the Human Soul; Harmonic Ratios in the Heavens; Conclusion; 6 Harmonics and Astronomy; Cousin Sciences; Sure and Incontrovertible Knowledge?; Different Methods, Different Claims to Truth; Consequences; 7 Consequences; 7 Mathematizing the Human Soul; The Nature and Structure of the Soul in On the Kriterion and Hegemonikon; The Structure of the Sou in the Harmonics: The Aristotelian Acount; The Development of Ptolemy's Scientific Method; The Structure of the Soul in the Harmonics: The Platonic and Synthetic Accounts; Conclusion; 8 Astrology and Cosmology; Astrological Conjecture; Celestial Powers and Rays; Celestial Souls and Bodies; Conclusion; 9 Conclusion; Bibliograph; Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780691179582

0691179581

OCLC:

1059959508