Mathematics and the Craft of Thought in the Anglo-Dutch Renaissance

Description

The development of a coherent, cohesive visual system of mathematics brought about a seminal shift in approaches towards abstract thinking in western Europe. Vernacular translations of Euclid’s Elements made these new and developing approaches available to a far broader readership than had previously been possible. Scholarship has explored the way that the language of mathematics leaked into the literary cultures of England and the Low Countries, but until now the role of visual metaphors of making and shaping in the establishment of mathematics as a practical tool has gone unexplored. Mathematics and the Craft of Thought sheds light on the remarkable culture shift surrounding the vernacular language translations of Euclid, and the geometrical imaginary that they sought to create. It shows how the visual language of early modern European geometry was constructed by borrowing and quoting from contemporary visual culture. The verbal and visual language of this form of mathematics, far from being simply immaterial, was designed to tantalize with material connotations. This book argues that, in a very real sense, practical geometry in this period was built out of craft metaphors. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction: Crafting Thought England and the Low Countries Cognitive Styles The Structure Notes Chapter 1: The Early Modern Picture | Beeld Defining Pictures Verbeelding to Afbeelding Tapestry Pictures Towards Geometrical Pictures Notes Chapter 2: Point The Point Two Word Pictures Sidney’s Points Joining the Dots: The Case of a Casting Bottle The Point of Jewels Painter-Jewels Mathematical Jewels and The Mathematical Iewell Notes Chapter 3: Line Twiste Lyne The Lines of Disegno, Draught and Tekening The Described Line Budding Lines Garlanded Lines Notes Chapter 4: Surface Dee’s Mathematical Surface Linen Surfaces The Strange Frame of Imaginacion Filled/ Gelijck Surfaces Decorative Surface Eloquent Surfaces Notes Chapter 5: Body Rhetorical Bodies Spirited or Vitaal Bodies Paper Bodies Notes Chapter 6: Conclusion: Thought Crafted Notes Bibliography Primary Material Secondary Sources Index