Ptolemy's Philosophy

Ptolemy's Philosophy PDF Author: Jacqueline Feke
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069121039X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
A stimulating intellectual history of Ptolemy's philosophy and his conception of a world in which mathematics reigns supreme 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, astrology, cosmology, psychology, and theology. In this stimulating intellectual history, Jacqueline Feke uncovers references to a complex and sophisticated philosophical agenda scattered among Ptolemy’s technical studies in the physical and mathematical sciences. She shows how he developed a philosophy that was radical and even subversive, appropriating ideas and turning them against the very philosophers from whom he drew influence. Feke reveals how Ptolemy’s 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.

Ptolemy's Philosophy

Ptolemy's Philosophy PDF Author: Jacqueline Feke
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069121039X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Get Book Here

Book Description
A stimulating intellectual history of Ptolemy's philosophy and his conception of a world in which mathematics reigns supreme 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, astrology, cosmology, psychology, and theology. In this stimulating intellectual history, Jacqueline Feke uncovers references to a complex and sophisticated philosophical agenda scattered among Ptolemy’s technical studies in the physical and mathematical sciences. She shows how he developed a philosophy that was radical and even subversive, appropriating ideas and turning them against the very philosophers from whom he drew influence. Feke reveals how Ptolemy’s 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.

Ptolemy's Philosophy

Ptolemy's Philosophy PDF Author: Jacqueline Feke
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691179581
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
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, astrology, cosmology, psychology, and theology. In this stimulating intellectual history, Jacqueline Feke uncovers references to a complex and sophisticated philosophical agenda scattered among Ptolemy’s technical studies in the physical and mathematical sciences. She shows how he developed a philosophy that was radical and even subversive, appropriating ideas and turning them against the very philosophers from whom he drew influence. Feke reveals how Ptolemy’s 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.

Ptolemy's Universe

Ptolemy's Universe PDF Author: Liba Chaia Taub
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Claudius Ptolemy, one of the greatest scientists of all time, probably lived in Alexandria in the second century A.D. His writings dominated astronomy and cosmology in medieval times. The replacement of his Earth-centered cosmology by the Sun-centered cosmology of Copernicus is the most celebrated event in the history of science. Yet, although there has been much scholarly discussion of the mathematical aspects of Ptolemy's astronomy, little attention has been paid to the philosophical, and particularly the ethical, ideas which animate the astronomy. Ptolemy's Universe is the first modern examination of Ptolemy's thought as a whole, and its place in Greek intellectual culture.

Ptolemy's First Commentator

Ptolemy's First Commentator PDF Author: Alexander Jones
Publisher: American Philosophical Society
ISBN: 9780871698070
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description


Ptolemy's Almagest

Ptolemy's Almagest PDF Author: Ptolemy
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691002606
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 712

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Book Description
Ptolemy's Almagest is one of the most influential scientific works in history. A masterpiece of technical exposition, it was the basic textbook of astronomy for more than a thousand years, and still is the main source for our knowledge of ancient astronomy. This translation, based on the standard Greek text of Heiberg, makes the work accessible to English readers in an intelligible and reliable form. It contains numerous corrections derived from medieval Arabic translations and extensive footnotes that take account of the great progress in understanding the work made in this century, due to the discovery of Babylonian records and other researches. It is designed to stand by itself as an interpretation of the original, but it will also be useful as an aid to reading the Greek text.

Ptolemy's Theory of the Distances and Sizes of the Planets

Ptolemy's Theory of the Distances and Sizes of the Planets PDF Author: Noel M. Swerdlow
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Astronomy, Ancient
Languages : en
Pages : 574

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Book Description


A Natural Philosophy

A Natural Philosophy PDF Author: George Payn Quackenbos
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Physics
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description


Ptolemy and the Foundations of Ancient Mathematical Optics

Ptolemy and the Foundations of Ancient Mathematical Optics PDF Author: A. Mark Smith
Publisher: American Philosophical Society
ISBN: 9780871698933
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
Contents: (I) Ancient Theories of Visual Perception: The Physics of Vision; The Physiology of Vision; The Psychology of Visual Perception; (II) Optics Proper: Analysis of Direct Vision: The Visual Cone; The Visual Perception of Physical Space; Binocular Vision; (III) Catoptrics: Analysis of Vision by Reflected Rays: The Law of Equal Angles; Multiple Reflections and Multiple Images; The Principles of Image-Location; Image-Formation and Distortion; Visual Effecs from Composite Mirrors; (IV) Dioptrics: Analysis of Vision by Deflected Rays: Observation and Explanation of the Phenomenon; Practical Application: The Problem of Atmospheric Refraction; Image-Location as a Function of the Shape of the Refracting Surface; Size-Distortion; (V) Analysis of the Rainbow and of Burning Mirrors; (VI) Conclusion. Illus.

The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy

The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy PDF Author: Robert R. Newton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
In Newton's view, Ptolemy was "the most successful fraud in the history of science". Newton shows that Ptolemy predominantly obtained the astronomical results described in his work The Almagest by computation, and not by the direct observations that Ptolemy described.

Ptolemy in Philosophical Context

Ptolemy in Philosophical Context PDF Author: Jacqueline Feke
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780494590751
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 484

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Book Description
This study situates Ptolemy's philosophy within the second-century milieu of Middle Platonism and the nascent Aristotelian commentary tradition. It focuses on Ptolemy's adaptation and application of Aristotle's tripartite division of theoretical philosophy into the physical, mathematical, and theological. In Almagest 1.1, Ptolemy defines these three sciences, describes their relations and objects of study, and addresses their epistemic success. According to Ptolemy, physics and theology are conjectural, and mathematics alone yields knowledge. This claim is unprecedented in the history of ancient Greek philosophy.Ptolemy substantiates this claim by constructing and employing a scientific method consistent with it. In Almagest 1.1, after defining the theoretical sciences, Ptolemy adds that, while theology and physics are conjectural, mathematics can make a good guess at the nature of theological objects and contribute significantly to the study of physics. He puts this claim into practice in the remainder of his corpus by applying mathematics to theology and physics in order to produce results in these fields.After the introductory chapter, I present Ptolemy's philosophy and practice of the three theoretical sciences. In Chapter 2, I examine how and why Ptolemy defines the sciences in Almagest 1.1. In Chapter 3, I further analyze how Ptolemy defines mathematical objects, how he describes the relationships between the tools and branches of mathematics, and whether he demonstrates in the Harmonics and Almagest that he believed mathematics yields sure and incontrovertible knowledge, as he claims in Almagest 1.1. In Chapter 4, I present Ptolemy's natural philosophy. While in Chapter 2 I discuss his element theory, in Chapter 4 I focus on his physics of composite bodies: astrology, psychology, and cosmology as conveyed in the Tetrabiblos, On the Kriterion, Harmonics, and Planetary Hypotheses. I do not devote a chapter to theology, as Ptolemy refers to this science only once in his corpus. Therefore, I limit my analysis of his definition and practice of theology to Chapter 2. In the concluding chapter, I discuss Ptolemy's ethical motivation for studying mathematics. What emerges from this dissertation is a portrait of Ptolemy's philosophy of science and the scientific method he employs consistently in his texts.