Ptolemy's Philosophy: Mathematics as a Way of Life - Softcover

Feke, Jacqueline

Softcover

ISBN 10: 069121039X ISBN 13: 9780691210391

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2020

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

Jacqueline Feke is assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 069121039X
• ISBN 13: 9780691210391
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256