Overview

In this third installment of his classic 'Foundations' trilogy, Michel Serres takes on the history of geometry and mathematics. Even more broadly, Geometry is the beginnings of things and also how these beginnings have shaped how we continue to think philosophically and critically. Serres rejects a traditional history of mathematics which unfolds in a linear manner, and argues for the need to delve into the past of maths and identify a series of ruptures which can help shed light on how this discipline has developed and how, in turn, the way we think has been shaped and formed. This meticulous and lyrical translation marks the first ever English translation of this key text in the history of ideas.

Full Product Details

Author:   Professor Michel Serres (Stanford University, USA) ,  Randolph Burks
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Academic
Dimensions:   Width: 12.90cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 19.80cm
Weight:   0.406kg
ISBN:  

9781474281409

ISBN 10:   1474281400
Pages:   280
Publication Date:   23 February 2017
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

The origins of geometry The Universal: One of its First Constructions The Differences: Chaos in the History of Science Synthesis: The Science of History Part One: Customs and Laws 1. First in History: Anaximander Spaces without Exclusion: Juridical Origins 2. First in the rite: The royal victim Spaces of Exclusion: Political Origins 3. First in dialectic: The interlocutor Spaces of Exclusion: Discursive Origins 4.The Point at Noon Part Two: Nature 5.First in History: Thales From the pyramid to the tetrahedron: The optical origin From Diogenes to Thales: The ethical origin From the sun to the earth: The astronomical origin 6. First in philosophy: The ignorant slave boy From Pythagoras to Zeno: The algorithmic origin 7. First in logic: The element The automatic origin and Return to sociopolitical origins Part three: Conclusion 8. The Measurement of the Earth: Herodotus Notes

Reviews

Michel Serres is one of the most original philosophers on our planet. Trained in mathematics and the philosophy of science, he straddles the divide between the two cultures of science and the humanities, and has developed a style of writing that eschews the usual trappings of academic prose. Geometry is ostensibly an analysis of the origins of geometry in ancient Greece, but in the process, it presents an entire philosophy of space and time, of the nature of science and knowledge, and even of their relations to politics and religion. This is Serres at his best: inventive, provocative, and profound. -- Daniel W. Smith, Professor of Philosophy, Purdue University, USA

Author Information

Michel Serres is a Professor in the History of Science at Stanford University and a member of the Académie Française. A renowned and popular philosopher, he is a prize-winning author of essays and books, such as The Five Senses, Rome and Statues. Randolph Burks is a philosopher specializing in phenomenology and philosophies of the body and nature. He has translated several works by Michel Serres, including Biogea, Variations on the Body and The Hermaphrodite (forthcoming) and the other two titles in the 'Foundations' series.

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