On the Contested Expanding Rôle of Applied Mathematics from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment

13 September 2010 - 16 September 2010

Aims

The purpose of this 4 days workshop is to consider the methodological debates determined by the expanding rôle of mathematics in the natural sciences and other areas of application. As Kuhn argued in a seminal paper on the “mathematical vs. experimental traditions in the development of physical science” (J. Interdisciplinary History, 7(1), 1976: 1-31) such a mathematical colonization of new areas was subject to tensions and criticisms. Indeed, during its long history applied mathematics has encountered its defenders as well as its critics: those who maintained that its language is inadequate for such applications opposed the mathematicians who wished to subject new domains to mathematical rule. We will review these debates from the Renaissance to the early nineteenth century focusing on the problematic relationships between mathematics and experiment, mathematics and logic, mathematics and medicine, mathematics and musical theory, etc.

_Number of Sessions: (September 2010)_ - Monday 13 - afternoon (1 speaker) -Tuesday 14 - morning (2 speakers) -Tuesday 14 - afternoon (2 speakers) -Wednesday 15 - morning (2 speakers) -Wednesday 15 - afternoon (2 speakers) -Thursday 16 - morning (2 speakers)