From Summetria to Symmetry: The Making of a Revolutionary Scientific ConceptSpringer Science & Business Media, 2008 M07 9 - 336 páginas Many literary critics seem to think that an hypothesis about obscure and remote questions of history can be refuted by a simple demand for the production of more evidence than in fact exists. The demand is as easy to make as it is impossible to satisfy. But the true test of an hypothesis, if it cannot be shown to con?ict with known truths, is the number of facts that it correlates and explains. Francis M. Cornford [1914] 1934, 220. It was in the autumn of 1997 that the research project leading to this publication began. One of us [GH], while a visiting fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science (University of Pittsburgh), gave a talk entitled, “Proportions and Identity: The Aesthetic Aspect of Symmetry”. The presentation focused on a confusion s- rounding the concept of symmetry: it exhibits unity, yet it is often claimed to reveal a form of beauty, namely, harmony, which requires a variety of elements. In the audience was the co-author of this book [BRG] who responded with enthusiasm, seeking to extend the discussion of this issue to historical sources in earlier periods. A preliminary search of the literature persuaded us that the history of symmetry was rich in possibilities for new insights into the making of concepts. John Roche’s brief essay (1987), in which he sketched the broad outlines of the history of this concept, was particularly helpful, and led us to conclude that the subject was worthy of monographic treatment. |
Contenido
| 1 | |
Ancient Perspectives and Their Survival in the Early | 56 |
The Mathematical Path | 69 |
The Aesthetic Path 93 | 92 |
New Aesthetic Sensibilities in Italian and French Architecture | 111 |
The Ancient Concept of Symmetry in Scientific Contexts in Early | 156 |
The Treatment of Symmetry in Natural History 17381815 | 179 |
Legendres Revolutionary Definition of Symmetry as a Scientific | 221 |
Legendres Choice of SymmetryWhats in a Word? | 295 |
References | 303 |
Index | 323 |
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
From Summetria to Symmetry: The Making of a Revolutionary Scientific Concept Giora Hon,Bernard R. Goldstein Sin vista previa disponible - 2010 |
From Summetria to Symmetry: The Making of a Revolutionary Scientific Concept Giora Hon,Bernard R. Goldstein Sin vista previa disponible - 2009 |
From Summetria to Symmetry: The Making of a Revolutionary Scientific Concept Giora Hon,Bernard R. Goldstein Sin vista previa disponible - 2008 |
Términos y frases comunes
18th century aesthetic Alberti ancient angles solides appears applied Archimedes architecture argument axis beauty bilateral sense bilateral symmetry Biot body Book Brading and Castellani Cauchy center of gravity claim commensurabiles commensurable concept of symmetry context Copernicus correspondence crystal definition of symmetry deux Diderot discussion domains early modern égaux Éléments Encyclopédie equilibrium Euclid Euclid's Elements Euler Euler's formula example expression figure Fraassen French Galileo géométrie Greek group theory Haüy incommensurable incongruent counterparts invariable Kant Kepler Lacroix Laplace Latin Legendre Legendre's Leibniz Linnaeus Mach mathematical meaning of symmetry mirror image modern concept Montesquieu nature objects passage Perrault physical plane polyèdres polygons polyhedra polyhedron principle proportion qu'il relation respective symmetry scientific concept Simson solid angles solid geometry spherical triangles Springer Science+Business Media symétrie symétrique symmetrical polyhedra symmetry in physics theorem theory tradition translation usage of symmetry Van Fraassen Vitruvian Vitruvius Vitruvius's Weyl
Pasajes populares
Página 31 - System wants a Reformation. Such a wonderful Uniformity in the Planetary System must be allowed the Effect of Choice. And so must the Uniformity in the Bodies of Animals, they having generally a right and a left side shaped alike, and on either side of their Bodies two Legs behind, and either two Arms, or two Legs, or two Wings before upon their Shoulders, and between their Shoulders a Neck running down into a Back-bone, and a Head upon it; and in the Head two Ears, two Eyes, a Nose, a Mouth, and...
Página 31 - Positions, blind Fate could never make all the Planets move one and the same way in Orbs concentrick, some inconsiderable Irregularities excepted, which may have risen from the mutual Actions of Comets and Planets upon one another, and which will be apt to increase, till this System wants a Reformation.
Página 24 - If a new result is to have any value, it must unite elements long since known, but till then scattered and seemingly foreign to each other, and suddenly introduce order where the appearance of disorder reigned. Then it enables us to see at a glance each of these elements in the place it occupies in the whole. Not only is the new fact valuable on its own account, but it alone gives a value to the old facts it unites. Our mind is...
Página 46 - ... l'autre principe est celui de la rsison déterminante : c'est que jamais rien n'arrive, sans qu'il y ait une cause ou du moins une raison déterminante, c'est-à-dire quelque chose qui puisse servir à rendre raison a priori, pourquoi cela est existant plutôt que non existant, et pourquoi cela est ainsi plutôt que de toute autre façon.
Página 45 - Théodicée; c'est le principe de la raison suffisante; c'est que rien n'arrive sans qu'il y ait une raison pourquoi cela est ainsi plutôt qu'autrement.
Página 13 - Par ma foi, il ya plus de quarante ans que je dis de la prose, sans que j'en susse rien; et je vous suis le plus obligé du monde de m'avoir appris cela.
Página 45 - Equilibria, to take for granted, that if there be a balance in which everything is alike on both sides, and if equal weights are hung on the two ends of that balance, the whole will be at rest.
Página 45 - But in order to proceed from mathematics to natural philosophy, another principle is requisite, (as I have observed in my Theodicy,) I mean the principle of the sufficient reason ; or, in other words, that nothing happens without a reason why it should be so rather than otherwise.
Página 101 - For the human body is so designed by nature that the face, from the chin to the top of the forehead and the lowest roots of the hair, is a tenth part...
Página 149 - Now the navel is naturally the exact centre of the body. For if a man lies on his back with hands and feet outspread, and the centre of a circle is placed on his navel, his fingers and toes will be touched by the circumference. Also a square will be found described within the figure, in the same way as a round figure is produced.