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Hobbes–Wallis Controversy
The Hobbes–Wallis controversy was a polemic debate that continued from the mid-1650s well into the 1670s, between the philosopher Thomas Hobbes and the mathematician and clergyman John Wallis. It was sparked by ''De corpore'', a philosophical work by Hobbes in the general area of physics. The book contained not only a theory of mathematics subordinating it to geometry and geometry to kinematics, but a claimed proof of the squaring of the circle by Hobbes. While Hobbes retracted this particular proof, he returned to the topic with other attempted proofs. A pamphleteering exchange continued for decades. It drew in the newly formed Royal Society, and its experimental philosophy to which Hobbes was (on principle) opposed. The sustained nature of the exchanges can be attributed to several strands of the intellectual situation of the time. In mathematics there were open issues, namely the priority (pedagogic, or theoretical) to be assigned to geometry and algebra; and the status of algeb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5/15 April 1588 – 4/14 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influential formulation of social contract theory. In addition to political philosophy, Hobbes contributed to a diverse array of other fields, including history, jurisprudence, geometry, theology, and ethics, as well as philosophy in general. Biography Early life Thomas Hobbes was born on 5 April 1588 (Old Style), in Westport, now part of Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England. Having been born prematurely when his mother heard of the coming invasion of the Spanish Armada, Hobbes later reported that "my mother gave birth to twins: myself and fear." Hobbes had a brother, Edmund, about two years older, as well as a sister named Anne. Although Thomas Hobbes's childhood is unknown to a large extent, as is his mother's name, it is known that Hobbes's fat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor = The Lord Patten of Barnes , vice_chancellor = Louise Richardson , students = 24,515 (2019) , undergrad = 11,955 , postgrad = 12,010 , other = 541 (2017) , city = Oxford , country = England , coordinates = , campus_type = University town , athletics_affiliations = Blue (university sport) , logo_size = 250px , website = , logo = University of Oxford.svg , colours = Oxford Blue , faculty = 6,995 (2020) , academic_affiliations = , The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, first as a senior commander in the Parliamentarian army and then as a politician. A leading advocate of the execution of Charles I in January 1649, which led to the establishment of the Republican Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, he ruled as Lord Protector from December 1653 until his death in September 1658. Cromwell nevertheless remains a deeply controversial figure in both Britain and Ireland, due to his use of the military to first acquire, then retain political power, and the brutality of his 1649 Irish campaign. Educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, Cromwell was elected MP for Huntingdon in 1628, but the first 40 years of his life were undistinguished and at one point he contemplated emigration to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scholasticism
Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon the Aristotelian 10 Categories. Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that translated scholastic Judeo—Islamic philosophies, and thereby "rediscovered" the collected works of Aristotle. Endeavoring to harmonize his metaphysics and its account of a prime mover with the Latin Catholic dogmatic trinitarian theology, these monastic schools became the basis of the earliest European medieval universities, and scholasticism dominated education in Europe from about 1100 to 1700. The rise of scholasticism was closely associated with these schools that flourished in Italy, France, Portugal, Spain and England. Scholasticism is a method of learning more than a philosophy or a theology, since it places a strong emphasis on dialectical reasoning to extend knowledge by inference and to resolve contradictions. Scholastic thought is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel De Sorbière
Samuel (de) Sorbière (; 1615–1670) was a French physician and man of letters, a philosopher and translator, who is best known for his promotion of the works of Thomas Hobbes and Pierre Gassendi, in whose view of physics he placed his support, though unable to refute René Descartes, but who developed a reputation in his own day for a truculent and disputatious nature. Sorbière is regarded often by his position on ethics and disclosure about medical mistakes. In 1672 Sorbière considered the idea of being honest and upfront about a mistake having been made in medicine but thought that it might seriously jeopardise medical practice and concluded that it "would not catch on". Life After relocating to the Netherlands, he published a French translation of Thomas More's ''Utopia'' in 1643. He arranged for the publication of Hobbes's ''De Cive'' in Amsterdam in 1647, published a French translation in 1649, published a French translation of Hobbes' ''De Corpore Politico, or the Eleme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their name from the presbyterian polity, presbyterian form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian elder, elders. Many Reformed churches are organised this way, but the word ''Presbyterian'', when capitalized, is often applied to churches that trace their roots to the Church of Scotland or to English Dissenters, English Dissenter groups that formed during the English Civil War. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the Sola scriptura, authority of the Scriptures, and the necessity of Grace in Christianity, grace through Faith in Christianity, faith in Christ. Presbyterian church government was ensured in Scotland by the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union in 1707, which cre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Owen (theologian)
John Owen (161624 August 1683) was an English Nonconformist church leader, theologian, and academic administrator at the University of Oxford. He was briefly a member of parliament for the University's constituency, sitting in the First Protectorate Parliament of 1654 to 1655. Early life Of Welsh descent, Owen was born at Stadhampton in Oxfordshire, and was educated at Queen's College, Oxford (B.A. 1632, M.A. 1635); at the time the college was noted, according to Thomas Fuller, for its metaphysicians. A Puritan by upbringing, in 1637 Owen was driven from Oxford by Laud's new statutes, and became chaplain and tutor in the family of Sir Robert Dormer and then in that of Lord Lovelace. At the outbreak of the English Civil War he sided with the parliament, and thus lost both his place and the prospects of succeeding to his Welsh Royalist uncle's fortune. For a while he lived in Charterhouse Yard, troubled by religious questions. His doubts were removed by a sermon preached by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Savilian Professor Of Geometry
The position of Savilian Professor of Geometry was established at the University of Oxford in 1619. It was founded (at the same time as the Savilian Professorship of Astronomy) by Sir Henry Savile, a mathematician and classical scholar who was Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and Provost of Eton College, reacting to what has been described by one 20th-century mathematician as "the wretched state of mathematical studies in England" at that time. He appointed Henry Briggs as the first professor. Edward Titchmarsh (professor 1931–63) said when applying that he was not prepared to lecture on geometry, and the requirement was removed from the duties of the post to enable his appointment, although the title of the chair was not changed. The two Savilian chairs have been linked with professorial fellowships at New College, Oxford, since the late 19th century. Before then, for over 175 years until the middle of the 19th century, the geometry professors had an official residence ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Warner
Walter Warner (1563–1643) was an English mathematician and scientist. Life He was born in Leicestershire and educated at Merton College, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1578. Andrew Pyle (editor), ''Dictionary of Seventeenth Century British Philosophers'' (2000), article Warner, pp. 858–86 See also Jan Prins: Walter Warner (ca. 1557-1643) and his notes on Animal Organisms. Dissertation, Utrecht University, 1992/ref> At the end of the sixteenth century he belonged to the circle round Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, the 'Wizard Earl'. The Earl's ‘three magi’ were Warner, Thomas Harriot and Robert Hues. Percy paid Warner a retainer to help him with alchemical experiments (£20 per annum in 1595, rising to £40 in 1607). He also belonged to the overlapping group around Sir Walter Ralegh. At this time he was mainly known for chemical and medical interests. It has been argued by Jean Jacquot that this group of experimental researchers, sponsored by Percy and Rale ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Wilkins
John Wilkins, (14 February 1614 – 19 November 1672) was an Anglican clergyman, natural philosopher, and author, and was one of the founders of the Royal Society. He was Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death. Wilkins is one of the few persons to have headed a college at both the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. He was a polymath, although not one of the most important scientific innovators of the period. His personal qualities were brought out, and obvious to his contemporaries, in reducing political tension in Interregnum Oxford, in founding the Royal Society on non-partisan lines, and in efforts to reach out to Protestant Nonconformists. He was one of the founders of the new natural theology compatible with the science of the time. He is particularly known for '' An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language'' (1668) in which, amongst other things, he proposed a universal language and an integrated system of measurement, simil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Savilian Professor Of Astronomy
The position of Savilian Professor of Astronomy was established at the University of Oxford in 1619. It was founded (at the same time as the Savilian Professor of Geometry, Savilian Professorship of Geometry) by Henry Savile (Bible translator), Sir Henry Savile, a mathematician and classical scholar who was Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and Provost of Eton College. He appointed John Bainbridge (astronomer), John Bainbridge as the first professor, who took up his duties in 1620 or 1621. There have been 21 astronomy professors in all; Steven Balbus, the professor , was appointed in 2012. Past professors include Christopher Wren (1661–73), architect of St Paul's Cathedral in London and the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford; he held the professorship at the time of his commission to rebuild the cathedral after it was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. Three professors have been awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society: Charles Pritchard (1870–93), Harry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seth Ward (bishop)
Seth Ward (1617 – 6 January 1689) was an English mathematician, astronomer, and bishop. Early life He was born in Hertfordshire, and educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1636 and M.A. in 1640, becoming a Fellow in that year. In 1643 he was chosen university mathematical lecturer, but he was deprived of his fellowship next year for opposing the Solemn League and Covenant (with Isaac Barrow, John Barwick and Peter Gunning). Academic In the 1640s, he took instruction in mathematics from William Oughtred, and stayed with relations of Samuel Ward. In 1649, he became Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford University, and gained a high reputation by his theory of planetary motion, propounded in the works entitled ''In Ismaelis Bullialdi astronomiae philolaicae fundamenta inquisitio brevis'' (Oxford, 1653), against the cosmology of Ismael Boulliau, and ''Astronomia geometrica'' (London, 1656) on the system of Kepler. About this time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
