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Analysis, Constructions And Diagrams In Classical Geometry, Marco Panza
Analysis, Constructions And Diagrams In Classical Geometry, Marco Panza
MPP Published Research
Greek ancient and early modern geometry necessarily uses diagrams. Among other things, these enter geometrical analysis. The paper distinguishes two sorts of geometrical analysis and shows that in one of them, dubbed “intra-confgurational” analysis, some diagrams necessarily enter as outcomes of a purely material gesture, namely not as result of a codifed constructive procedure, but as result of a free-hand drawing.
Diagrams In Intra-Configurational Analysis, Marco Panza, Gianluca Longa
Diagrams In Intra-Configurational Analysis, Marco Panza, Gianluca Longa
MPP Published Research
In this paper we would like to attempt to shed some light on the way in which diagrams enter into the practice of ancient Greek geometrical analysis. To this end, we will first distinguish two main forms of this practice, i.e., trans-configurational and intra-configurational. We will then argue that, while in the former diagrams enter in the proof essentially in the same way (mutatis mutandis) they enter in canonical synthetic demonstrations, in the latter, they take part in the analytic argument in a specific way, which has no correlation in other aspects of classical geometry. In intra-configurational analysis, diagrams represent …
Enthymemathical Proofs And Canonical Proofs In Euclid’S Plane Geometry, Abel Lassalle, Marco Panza
Enthymemathical Proofs And Canonical Proofs In Euclid’S Plane Geometry, Abel Lassalle, Marco Panza
MPP Published Research
Since the application of Postulate I.2 in Euclid’s Elements is not uniform, one could wonder in what way should it be applied in Euclid’s plane geometry. Besides legitimizing questions like this from the perspective of a philosophy of mathematical practice, we sketch a general perspective of conceptual analysis of mathematical texts, which involves an extended notion of mathematical theory as system of authorizations, and an audience-dependent notion of proof.
Rethinking Geometrical Exactness, Marco Panza
Rethinking Geometrical Exactness, Marco Panza
MPP Published Research
A crucial concern of early modern geometry was fixing appropriate norms for deciding whether some objects, procedures, or arguments should or should not be allowed into it. According to Bos, this is the exactness concern. I argue that Descartes’s way of responding to this concern was to suggest an appropriate conservative extension of Euclid’s plane geometry (EPG). In Section 2, I outline the exactness concern as, I think, it appeared to Descartes. In Section 3, I account for Descartes’s views on exactness and for his attitude towards the most common sorts of constructions in classical geometry. I also explain in …