THE SHAPING OF DEDUCTION IN GREEK MATHEMATICS A Study in Cognitive History

Reviel Netz9780521541206, 0521541204

This book provides a way to understand a momentous development in human intellectual history: the phenomenon of deductive argument in classical Greek mathematics. The argument rests on a close description of the practices of Greek mathematics, principally the use of lettered diagrams and the regulated, formulaic use of language.

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Table of contents :
Table of Contents……Page 10
Preface……Page 12
List of abbreviations……Page 14
The Greek alphabet……Page 17
Note on the figures……Page 18
Introduction……Page 20
A specimen of Greek mathematics……Page 28
1 The lettered diagram……Page 31
2 The pragmatics of letters……Page 87
3 The mathematical lexicon……Page 108
4 Formulae……Page 146
5 The shaping of necessity……Page 187
6 The shaping of generality……Page 259
7 The historical setting……Page 290
Appendix: The main Greek mathematicians cited in the book……Page 332
Bibliography……Page 335
A……Page 342
E……Page 343
M……Page 344
T……Page 345
Z……Page 346