Reading mathematics in the eighteenth century: Montesquieu and young d’Alembert
Montesquieu, one of the major political philosophers of the Enlightenment, author of the famous De l’esprit des lois (1748), left copious marginal notes in a Cartesian textbook published by a mathematics teacher, Nicolas Guisnée, and entitled Application de l’algèbre à la géométrie (Paris 1705). Some years later, young d’Alembert studied and commented upon the same text, writing a continuous commentary, which is still unpublished. The focus of the talk will be on different reading practices of Montesquieu and d’Alembert, their motivations and the goals they might have pursued.
Date:
7 March 2018, 17:00 (Wednesday, 8th week, Hilary 2018)
Venue:
All Souls College, High Street OX1 4AL
Venue Details:
Hovenden Room
Speaker:
Jeanne Peiffer (Centre Alexandre Koyré)
Organising department:
All Souls College
Organisers:
Yelda Nasifoglu (University of Oxford),
Christopher Hollings (University of Oxford),
Benjamin Wardhaugh (University of Oxford),
Philip Beeley (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address:
benjamin.wardhaugh@history.ox.ac.uk
Host:
Benjamin Wardhaugh (University of Oxford)
Part of:
Seminar in the History of the Exact Sciences
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Christopher Hollings
