Aristotle and mathematics : : aporetic method in cosmology and metaphysics / / by John J. Cleary.

• Superior document: Philosophia antiqua, v. 67
• Author: Cleary, John J.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, New York : : E.J. Brill,, 1995.
• Year of Publication: 1995
• Language: English
• Series: Philosophia Antiqua 67.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (xxxvi, 558 pages).

John Cleary here explores the role which the mathematical sciences play in Aristotle's philosophical thought, especially in his cosmology, metaphysics, and epistemology. He also thematizes the aporetic method by means of which he deals with philosophical questions about the foundations of mathematics. The first two chapters consider Plato's mathematical cosmology in the light of Aristotle's critical distinction between physics and mathematics. Subsequent chapters examine three basic aporiae about mathematical objects which Aristotle himself develops in his science of first philosophy. What emerges from this dialectical inquiry is a different conception of substance and of order in the universe, which gives priority to physics over mathematics as the cosmological science. Within this different world-view, we can better understand what we now call Aristotle's philosophy of mathematics.

Table of Contents

Preliminary material -- THE ACADEMIC BACKGROUND -- ARISTOTLE’S CRITICISM OF PLATO’S MATHEMATICAL COSMOLOGY -- PROBLEMS ABOUT MATHEMATICAL OBJECTS -- ARISTOTLE’S DIALECTICAL METHOD -- THE ONTOLOGICAL STATUS OF MATHEMATICAL OBJECTS -- THE PERFECTION OF THE COSMOS -- ARISTOTLE’S PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS -- GENERAL CONCLUSION -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX LOCORUM -- GENERAL INDEX -- PHILOSOPHIA ANTIQUA by J. MANSFELD , D.T. RUNIA and J.C.M. VAN WINDEN.