CSHPM Online Colloquium
The Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics (http://www.cshpm.org/) as well as the broader scholarly community to the next talk in our joint online colloquium series via Zoom. Participants are encouraged to become CSHPM members (for as little as $10-$30/year, depending on your employment status), but it is not required. Non-members can get regular updates on our activities by liking us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/
E. A. Hunter, University of Chicago, will deliver the 32nd talk of the CSHPM Online Colloquium series.
DATE: December 6th
TIME: Vancouver 11:00 AM; Montreal/Toronto 2:00 PM
TITLE: The Archimedean Point of Modern Science: Dijksterhuis’ and Koyré’s Scientific Revolution
ABSTRACT: Since the 1960s scholars have been revising or outright dismissing the "scientific revolution" as a self-evident historical and philosophical concept, necessitating numerous qualifications whenever the term is used. While its cornerstone, the mathematization of nature, has faced similar scrutiny, the notion that modernity began with the application of mathematics to natural phenomena endures. This belief gained prominence through Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis and Alexandre Koyré, who, despite differing views on scientific continuity and the ontological nature of mathematization, credited the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse as the progenitor of modern science. Although the broader framework of the scientific revolution has been largely abandoned, their interpretations of Archimedes remain influential.
To understand why the mathematization of nature remains epistemologically appealing and politically salient in narratives on scientific progress and identity, it is essential to understand how the narrative was constructed and, most critically, how anachronism shaped its formation. This presentation investigates the role of Archimedes in the historiography of the scientific revolution, focusing on how Dijksterhuis and Koyré each constructed their narratives. I argue that the two distinct views of mathematization converging on the figure of Archimedes are rooted in twentieth-century debates on the foundations of geometry and anxieties over abstraction, as well as the desire to link the present to classical Greece.
Please distribute this information to all who might be interested. The information to join the session via Zoom is as follows:
Topic: CSHPM Colloquium with E. A. Hunter (University of Chicago)
Time: December 6th, 2024 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
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https://pitzer.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 820 3190 3138
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