Front cover image for Squaring the circle : the war between Hobbes and Wallis

Squaring the circle : the war between Hobbes and Wallis

This text presents an account of the argument between Thomas Hobbes and John Wallis, from the core mathematics to the broader issues. Their "battle of the books" illuminates the relationship between science and 17th-century debates over the limits of sovereign power and the existence of God.
Print Book, English, 1999
University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 1999
History
xiv, 419 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
9780226398990, 9780226399003, 0226398994, 0226399001
41516628
Preface List of Abbreviations Chapter One: The Mathematical Career of the Monster of Malmesbury Chapter Two: The Reform of Mathematics and of the Universities Ideological Origins of the Dispute Chapter Three: De Corpore and the Mathematics of Materialism Chapter Four: Disputed Foundations Hobbes vs. Wallis on the Philosophy of Mathematics Chapter Five: The "Modern Analytics" and the Nature of Demonstration Chapter Six: The Demise of Hobbesian Geometry Chapter Seven: The Religion, Rhetoric, and Politics of Mr. Hobbes and Dr. Wallis Chapter Eight: Persistence in Error Why Was Hobbes So Resolutely Wrong? Appendix: Selections from Hobbes's Mathematical Writings References Index