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JournalISSN: 1549-4470

Aestimatio : Critical Reviews in the History of Science 

Institute for Research in Classical Philosophy and Science
About: Aestimatio : Critical Reviews in the History of Science is an academic journal published by Institute for Research in Classical Philosophy and Science. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Classics & Natural philosophy. It has an ISSN identifier of 1549-4470. It is also open access. Over the lifetime, 169 publications have been published receiving 2016 citations. The journal is also known as: Sources and studies in the history of science & Critical reviews in the history of science.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Safier et al. as discussed by the authors examined the transatlantic flow of knowledge in reverse - from West to East - through ephemeral monuments and geographical maps, and explored how the social and cultural worlds of South America contributed to the production of European scientific knowledge during the Enlightenment.
Abstract: Prior to 1735, South America was largely terra incognita to many Europeans. But that year, the Paris Academy of Sciences sent a joint French and Spanish mission to the Spanish American province of Quito (in present-day Ecuador) to study the curvature of the Earth at the Equator - an expedition that would put South America on the map and in the minds of Europeans for centuries to come. Equipped with quadrants and telescopes, the mission's participants referred to the transfer of scientific knowledge from Europe to the Andes as a "sacred fire" passing mysteriously through European astronomical instruments to curious observers in South America.By looking at the social and material traces of this expedition, "Measuring the New World" examines the transatlantic flow of knowledge in reverse - from West to East. Through ephemeral monuments and geographical maps, from the Andes to the Amazon River, the book explores how the social and cultural worlds of South America contributed to the production of European scientific knowledge during the Enlightenment. Neil Safier uses the notebooks of traveling philosophers, including Charles-Marie de La Condamine and others, as well as maps and specimens from the expedition, to place this particular scientific endeavor in the larger context of early modern print culture and the emerging intellectual category of scientist as author.

142 citations

MonographDOI
TL;DR: The authenticity question of Archytas' writings is addressed in this paper, where the authors present a collection of genuine testimonials from Archytus' life, writings, reception, and philosophy of archytas.
Abstract: Part I. Introductory Essays: 1. Life, writings and reception 2. The philosophy of Archytas 3. The authenticity question Part II. Genuine Fragments: 1. Fragment 1 2. Fragment 2 3. Fragment 3 4. Fragment 4 Part III: Genuine Testimonia: 1. Life and writings (A1-A6, B5-B8) 2. Moral philosophy and character 3. Geometry: the duplication of the cube (A14 and A15) 4. Music 5. Metaphysics 6. Physics 7. Miscellaneous testimonia Appendix: Spurious writings and testimonia Appendix: Archytas' name.

141 citations

MonographDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the development of mathematics between 1880 and 1920 as a modernist transformation similar to those in art, literature, and music is discussed, and it is shown that modernism succeeded in mathematics because it connected fruitfully with what mathematicians were doing and with the image they were creating for themselves as an autonomous body of professionals, but also that it steadily raised the stakes by forcing deeper and ultimately unanswerable questions onto the agenda.
Abstract: This book presents the development of mathematics between 1880 and 1920 as a modernist transformation similar to those in art, literature, and music. It is the first to trace the growth of mathematical modernism from its roots in explicit mathematical practice – problem solving and theory building – down to the foundations of mathematics and out to its interactions with physics, philosophy, and theology, the popularisation of mathematics, psychology, and ideas about real and artificial languages. It shows that modernism succeeded in mathematics because it connected fruitfully with what mathematicians were doing and with the image they were creating for themselves as an autonomous body of professionals, but also that it steadily raised the stakes by forcing deeper and ultimately unanswerable questions onto the agenda. Novel objects, definitions, and proofs in mathematics coming from the use of naive set theory and the revived axiomatic method animated debates that spilled over into contemporary arguments in philosophy, and drove an upsurge of popular writing on mathematics and the psychology of learning mathematics. A final chapter looks at mathematics after the First World War: the so-called Foundational crisis, the mechanisation of thought, and mathematical Platonism. Prominent figures in these debates who are seen here for the first time in a broad web of influences include, among the mathematicians, Borel, Dedekind, du Bois-Reymond, Enriques, Hilbert, Holder, Klein, Kronecker, Lebesgue, Minkowski, Peano, and Poincare, as well as Helmholtz, Hertz, Maxwell, and the neglected but important figures of Paul Carus and Wilhelm Wundt.

116 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Newman as mentioned in this paper traces the alchemical roots of Robert Boyle's famous mechanical philosophy and argues that alchemy contributed to the mechanization of nature, a movement that lay at the very heart of scientific discovery.
Abstract: Since the Enlightenment, alchemy has been viewed as a sort of antiscience, disparaged by many historians as a form of lunacy that impeded the development of rational chemistry. But, in "Atoms and Alchemy", William R. Newman - a historian widely credited for reviving recent interest in alchemy - exposes the speciousness of these views and challenges widely held beliefs about the origins of the Scientific Revolution. Tracing the alchemical roots of Robert Boyle's famous mechanical philosophy, Newman shows that alchemy contributed to the mechanization of nature, a movement that lay at the very heart of scientific discovery. Boyle and his predecessors - figures like the mysterious medieval Geber or the Lutheran professor Daniel Sennert - provided convincing experimental proof that matter is made up of enduring particles at the microlevel. At the same time, Newman argues that alchemists created the operational criterion of an "atomic" element as the last point of analysis, thereby contributing a key feature to the development of later chemistry. "Atoms and Alchemy" thus provokes a refreshing debate about the origins of modern science and will be welcomed - and deliberated - by all who are interested in the development of scientific theory and practice.

98 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the politics of music in the late fifth century at Athens and discuss the nightingale as a metaphor for music in Greek tragedy, and the role of music as catharsis in politics.
Abstract: Introduction PART I: MOUSIKE AND RELIGION 1. Muses and Mysteries 2. Changing choral worlds: song-dance and society in Athens and beyond 3. Song-dance and state-pilgrimage at Athens 4. Dancing the pyrrhikhe PART II: MOUSIKE ON STAGE 5. Choral prayer in Greek tragedy: euphemia or aischrologia? 6. Choral forms in Aristophanic comedy: musical mimesis and dramatic performance in classical Athens 7. Transforming the nightingale: aspects of Athenian musical discourse in the late fifth century PART III: THE POLITICS OF MOUSIKE 8. The Politics of the New Music 9. Damon of Oa: a music theorist ostracized 10. Athenian strings PART IV: MOUSIKE AND PAIDEIA 11. catharsis: the power of music in Aristotle's Politics 12. Dirty dancing: Xenophon's Symposium 13. The Muses and their arts

84 citations

Performance
Metrics
No. of papers from the Journal in previous years
YearPapers
202216
20203
201811
20164
2015105
20133