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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.
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 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.
The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity comprises over forty specially commissioned essays by experts on the philosophy of the period 200–800 CE. Designed as a successor to The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy (edited by A. H. Armstrong), it takes into account some forty years of scholarship since the publication of that volume. The contributors examine philosophy as it entered literature, science and religion, and offer new and extensive assessments of philosophers who until recently have been mostly ignored. The volume also includes a complete digest of all philosophical works known to have been written during this period. It will be an invaluable resource for all those interested in this rich and still emerging field.
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.
This book builds on the path-breaking work of George E. Smith and further explores the notions of evidence and confirmation in the exact sciences from two perspectives: conceptual and historical. Contributions in this volume investigate the philosophical presuppositions, explanatory scope, and historical precursors of evidence in mathematical physics and related disciplines. The papers are written by and of interest to philosophers and historians of science.
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.
Porphyry's Commentary, the only surviving ancient commentary on a technical text, is not merely a study of Ptolemy's Harmonics. It includes virtually free-standing philosophical essays on epistemology, metaphysics, scientific methodology, aspects of the Aristotelian categories and the relations between Aristotle's views and Plato's, and a host of briefer comments on other matters of wide philosophical interest. For musicologists it is widely recognised as a treasury of quotations from earlier treatises, many of them otherwise unknown; but Porphyry's own reflections on musical concepts (for instance notes, intervals and their relation to ratios, quantitative and qualitative conceptions of pitch, the continuous and discontinuous forms of vocal movement, and so on) and his snapshots of contemporary music-making have been undeservedly neglected. This volume presents the first English translation and a revised Greek text of the Commentary, with an introduction and notes designed to assist readers in engaging with this important and intricate work.