Ptolemy S Philosophy

Author : Jacqueline Feke
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 250 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2020-10-13
Category : Mathematics
ISBN : 9780691210391

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Ptolemy's Philosophy by Jacqueline Feke Pdf

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.

Author : Liba Chaia Taub
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 1993
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : UOM:39015029476184

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Ptolemy's Universe by Liba Chaia Taub Pdf

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.

Author : Alexander Jones
Publisher : American Philosophical Society
Page : 72 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 1990
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0871698072

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Ptolemy's First Commentator by Alexander Jones Pdf

Author : Charles Burnett,Dag Nikolaus Hasse,David Juste,Benno van Dalen
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 510 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2020-09-30
Category : Electronic books
ISBN : 2503586392

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Ptolemy's Science of the Stars in the Middle Ages by Charles Burnett,Dag Nikolaus Hasse,David Juste,Benno van Dalen Pdf

Claudius Ptolemy (c. 100-170 AD) is one of the most influential scholars of all time. While he is also the author of treatises on geography, optics and harmonics, his fame primarily stems from two works on the science of the stars, dealing with mathematical astronomy (the Almagest) and astrology (the Tetrabiblos). The Almagest and the Tetrabiblos remained the fundamental texts on the science of the stars for some 1500 years. Both were translated several times into Arabic and Latin and were heavily commented upon, glossed, discussed, and also criticised and improved upon, in the Islamic world and in Christian Europe. Yet, the reception of Ptolemy in medieval cultures is still to a large extent a terra incognita of the history of science. The Arabic and Latin versions of the Almagest and the Tetrabiblos are for the most part unavailable in modern editions, their manuscripts remain largely unexplored and, generally speaking, their history has never been systematically investigated. This volume gathers together fifteen contributions dealing with various aspects of the reception of Ptolemy's astronomy and astrology in the Islamic world and in Christian Europe up to the seventeenth century. Contributions are by Jose Bellver, Jean-Patrice Boudet, Josep Casulleras, Bojidar Dimitrov, Dirk Grupe, Paul Hullmeine, Alexander Jones, Richard L. Kremer, Y. Tzvi Langermann, H. Darrel Rutkin, Michael H. Shank, Nathan Sidoli, Carlos Steel, Johannes Thomann and Henry Zepeda.

Author : Ptolemy
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 712 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 1998-11-08
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780691002606

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Ptolemy's Almagest by Ptolemy Pdf

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.

Author : Andrew Barker
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 308 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : History
ISBN : 0521553725

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Scientific Method in Ptolemy's Harmonics by Andrew Barker Pdf

The science called 'harmonics' was one of the major intellectual enterprises of Greek antiquity. Ptolemy's treatise seeks to invest it with new scientific rigour; its consistently sophisticated procedural self-awareness marks it as a key text in the history of science. This book is a sustained methodological exploration of Ptolemy's project. After an analysis of his explicit pronouncements on the science's aims and the methods appropriate to it, it examines Ptolemy's conduct of his investigation in detail, concluding that despite occasional uncertainties, the declared procedure is followed with remarkable fidelity. Ptolemy pursues tenaciously his novel objective of integrating closely the project's theoretical and empirical phases and shows astonishing mastery of the concept, the design and the conduct of controlled experimental tests. By opening up this neglected text to historians of science, the book aims to provide a point of departure for wider studies of Greek scientific method.

Author : Jacqueline Feke
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 484 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 0494590750

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Ptolemy in Philosophical Context by Jacqueline Feke Pdf

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.

Author : Ptolemy
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 217 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2020-06-16
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780691214115

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Ptolemy's Geography by Ptolemy Pdf

Ptolemy's Geography is the only book on cartography to have survived from the classical period and one of the most influential scientific works of all time. Written in the second century AD, for more than fifteen centuries it was the most detailed topography of Europe and Asia available and the best reference on how to gather data and draw maps. Ptolemy championed the use of astronomical observation and applied mathematics in determining geographical locations. But more importantly, he introduced the practice of writing down coordinates of latitude and longitude for every feature drawn on a world map, so that someone else possessing only the text of the Geography could reproduce Ptolemy's map at any time, in whole or in part, at any scale. Here Berggren and Jones render an exemplary translation of the Geography and provide a thorough introduction, which treats the historical and technical background of Ptolemy's work, the contents of the Geography, and the later history of the work.

Author : Richard J. A. Talbert
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 284 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2014-02-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9780226789408

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Ancient Perspectives by Richard J. A. Talbert Pdf

Ancient Perspectives encompasses a vast arc of space and time—Western Asia to North Africa and Europe from the third millennium BCE to the fifth century CE—to explore mapmaking and worldviews in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. In each society, maps served as critical economic, political, and personal tools, but there was little consistency in how and why they were made. Much like today, maps in antiquity meant very different things to different people. Ancient Perspectives presents an ambitious, fresh overview of cartography and its uses. The seven chapters range from broad-based analyses of mapping in Mesopotamia and Egypt to a close focus on Ptolemy’s ideas for drawing a world map based on the theories of his Greek predecessors at Alexandria. The remarkable accuracy of Mesopotamian city-plans is revealed, as is the creation of maps by Romans to support the proud claim that their emperor’s rule was global in its reach. By probing the instruments and techniques of both Greek and Roman surveyors, one chapter seeks to uncover how their extraordinary planning of roads, aqueducts, and tunnels was achieved. Even though none of these civilizations devised the means to measure time or distance with precision, they still conceptualized their surroundings, natural and man-made, near and far, and felt the urge to record them by inventive means that this absorbing volume reinterprets and compares.

Author : Ptolemy,A. Mark Smith
Publisher : American Philosophical Society
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 1996
Category : Optics
ISBN : 0871698625

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Ptolemy's Theory of Visual Perception by Ptolemy,A. Mark Smith Pdf

Author : Francesco Pelosi,Federico M. Petrucci
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 369 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2020-12-17
Category : Art
ISBN : 9781108832274

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Music and Philosophy in the Roman Empire by Francesco Pelosi,Federico M. Petrucci Pdf

Explores the philosophical import and use of musical notions in crucial moments and authors of the Roman Imperial period.

Author : Robert R. Newton
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 440 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 1977
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : UOM:39015017155931

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The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy by Robert R. Newton Pdf

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.

Author : Edward Grant,John Emery Murdoch
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 354 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 1987-08
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780521322607

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Mathematics and Its Applications to Science and Natural Philosophy in the Middle Ages by Edward Grant,John Emery Murdoch Pdf

Eleven distinguished historians of science explore natural philosophy and mathematics in the Middle Ages.

Author : David Furley
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 480 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2003-09-02
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781134928873

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Routledge History of Philosophy Volume II by David Furley Pdf

The final volume to be published in the acclaimed Routledge History of Philosophy series provides an authoritative and comprehensive survey and analysis of the key areas of late Greek and early Christian Philosophy.

Author : Elizabeth Anne Hamm
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 0494782110

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Ptolemy's Planetary Theory by Elizabeth Anne Hamm Pdf

This study comprises a translation and commentary of Book I of the Planetary Hypotheseses by the second century A.D. Greco-Roman astronomer, Claudius Ptolemy. It closely examines the Planetary Hypotheses on its own and in relation to Ptolemy's other writings. Where necessary I rely on astronomical, philosophical, and technological works by other writers in order to better situate Ptolemy's ideas into the context of Greco-Roman science.The dissertation is organized into three sections. Section I consists of an extended introduction to the Planetary Hypotheses. I offer a synopsis of the Planetary Hypotheses and a history of the text in Sections I.1 and I.2. Section I.3 consists of a brief introduction to notation and sexagesimal numbers while Section I.4 analyzes the aim and function of Ptolemy's planetary models.Section II is a translation of the existing Greek text of the Planetary Hypotheses, namely Book I Part A, and a precis of Book I, Part B. The translation is made from J.L. Heiberg's edited Greek text and the precis relies on the English translation by Bernard Goldstein, the French translation by Regis Morelon, and the Arabic Manuscripts found in the British Library (Arabic-A) and the Library at the University of Leiden (Arabic-B). The footnotes include variant readings from the different Greek and Arabic Manuscripts. A list of all existing manuscripts of the Planetary Hypotheses can be found in Section I.2While I focus on the changes that Ptolemy made to the models in the Planetary Hypotheses from his theories in the Canobic Inscription, Handy Tables, and the Almagest, this work aims to explore the motivations behind these changes. Additionally, I contextualize the Planetary Hypotheses within Greco-Roman and Islamic astronomy and technology. What emerges from this dissertation is a consideration of Ptolemy's ideas about the practice of science and an analysis of how he modeled astronomical observations.Section III is a commentary of the entirety of Book I (Parts A and B). This section is arranged so that it loosely follows the order of topics found in the Planetary Hypotheses Section III.1 examines the Planetary Hypotheses in terms of instrument-making. Section III.2 discusses the geometric models that Ptolemy presents along with a discussion of the changes that he makes. I give an overview of the period relations and mean motions presented in the Planetary Hypotheses in Section III.3 and III.4 and the new frame of reference in Section III.5. Section III.6 briefly examines Book II of the Planetary Hypotheses and Section III.7 addresses the relationship of Book I and Book II and contextualizes this work in the history of Greco-Roman science. Finally, Section III.8 examines the role the Planetary Hypotheses played in developments within Medieval Islamic astronomy.