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(2003) Descartes's mathematical thought, Dordrecht, Springer.
It was through Proclus's Commentary on the First Book of Euclid's Elements, among others, that a novel mathematical idea entered the intellectual world of the sixteenth century. It is not too much to say that there has been no impact greater than Proclus regarding the status of mathematical sciences among the philosophies of mathematics in early modern Europe. We have seen in Chapter 2, § 2 that Clavius was greatly inspired by Proclus's philosophy of mathematics. By attempting to graft, as it were, the mathematical thought of Proclus on the trunk of the scholastic-Aristotelian scheme of learning, the Jesuit mathematician promoted the study of mathematics. Descartes is conjectured to have acquired the thought of Proclus through Clavius or others. Proclus also played a crucial role in spreading the idea that there is a substantial mathematical discipline prior and superior to arithmetic and geometry. This idea was useful to convince thinkers of the sixteenth century that there existed a mathematical discipline of "mathesis universalis'.
Publication details
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-1225-5_9
Full citation:
Sasaki, C. (2003). "Mathesis universalis" in the sixteenth century, in Descartes's mathematical thought, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 333-358.
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