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SUMMARY:The mathematicians' philosophy: early Italian perspectives on the 
 intellectual appropriation of the mechanical arts - Cesare S. Maffioli (In
 ternational Academy of the History of Science)
DTSTART:20111110T163000Z
DTEND:20111110T180000Z
UID:TALK33103@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Karin Ekholm
DESCRIPTION:In this talk I suggest that mathematicians' early interest in 
 philosophy was partly due to the need to understand the inventions of the 
 mechanical arts. This theme is developed by discussing two rather differen
 t cases. Attention is first focused on the Renaissance physician and mathe
 matician Girolamo Cardano\, who in his works gave philosophical dignity to
  the mechanical arts\, explained the working principles of their findings 
 and developed new fields\, such as the mathematical study of the motion of
  water. The second case concerns the theories of matter of Galileo Galilei
  and Domenico Guglielmini. Some scarcely considered aspects of these theor
 ies\, such as Galileo's quantification of the forces of cohesion of solids
  and liquids through the measurement of the force of void and Guglielmini'
 s mechanistic views on the process of aggregation of salt particles in aqu
 eous solutions\, indicate that engineering experimentation in the field co
 ntributed in a determining way to the development of the new sciences and 
 that mathematics' share in the corpuscular philosophy was greater than is 
 usually thought.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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