«Primo in numero, secundo in magnitudine». The concept of Mathesis communis in Benet Perera’s unpublished work
Abstract
The Cartesian concept of a mathesis universalis has as its immediate historical antecedent some of the ideas defended in the context of Renaissance Aristotelian discussions about mathematical certainty and the place of mathematics within the classification of sciences. One of the main figures in this debate is that of the Valencian Jesuit Benet Perera (1535 – 1610). Through the presentation of a series of passages extracted from the unpublished manuscripts of Perera, in this article we analyze this author’s claim for the existence of a common mathematical science, in the framework of some of his fundamental ideas, such as the denial of the scientific character of mathematics, or the division of metaphysics into a first philosophy concerning being as being, and a natural theology studying the intelligences and God.
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