Miller, David Marshall (2024) When Mathematics Became Useful to Science. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Mathematics is the “language of nature,” a privileged mode of expression in science. We think it latches onto something essential about the physical universe, and we seek theories that reduce phenomena to mathematical laws. Yet, this attitude could not arise from the philosophies dominant before the early modern period. In orthodox Aristotelianism, mathematical categories are too impoverished to capture the causal structure of the world. In the revived Platonism of its opponents, the natural world is too corrupt to exemplify mathematical perfection. Modern mathematical science required a novel tertium quid, due to Pietro Catena.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Miller, David Marshall dmm0085@auburn.edu
Additional Information:	Paper presented at PSA 2022.
Keywords:	history of philosophy; history of science; philosophy of mathematics; applicability of mathematics
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Mathematics > Applicability General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science
Depositing User:	David Marshall Miller
Date Deposited:	19 Dec 2024 16:52
Last Modified:	19 Dec 2024 16:52
Item ID:	24433
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Mathematics > Applicability General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science
Date:	18 December 2024
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/24433

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