Fano, Vincenzo (Author)
Davide Pietrini (Author)
Physis: Rivista Internazionale di Storia della Scienza
Volume: 54
Pages: 37-60
Publication date: 2019
Language: English
We bring an argument favoring the perspective that modern science is different from ancient science as the former is less rigorous than the latter. To prove this thesis, we investigate how Archimedes and Galilei demonstrate the principle of the lever, i.e. the law according to which the equilibrium of the lever depends on the product of the loaded weight times the length of the arm. In explaining Archimedes’ proof, we follow Dijksterhuis’ presentation, defending its rigor from Mach’s attack. Concerning Galileo, on the other hand, we show how his proof of the lever principle is based on the thesis that continuum is constituted by an infinity of atoms. Moreover, we shed light on the fact that Galileo employs this notion of continuum despite knowing that it is not rigorous. We conclude by emphasizing the opportunism of Galileo’s methodology as contraposed to Archimedes’ rigor.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Book
Enrico Giannetto;
Giulia Giannini;
(2009)
Da Archimede a Majorana: la fisica nel suo divenire
(/p/isis/citation/CBB945473809/)
Article
Paul T. Keyser;
(2022)
The Archimedean ‘sambukē’ of Damis in Biton
(/p/isis/citation/CBB669736606/)
Book
Douglas Summers Stay;
(2011)
Machinamenta: The Thousand Year Quest to Build a Creative Machine
(/p/isis/citation/CBB431789555/)
Article
Ciocci, Argante;
(2019)
Galileo e le «maravigliose» Spirali di Archimede
(/p/isis/citation/CBB457342807/)
Essay Review
Cohnitz, Daniel;
(2013)
Thought Experiments Outside Science
(/p/isis/citation/CBB001500233/)
Article
Maurice A. Finocchiaro;
(2021)
Socrates, Galileo, and Marx as critical thinkers
(/p/isis/citation/CBB654335389/)
Book
Koetsier, Teun;
Bergmans, Luc;
(2005)
Mathematics and the Divine: A Historical Study
(/p/isis/citation/CBB000500288/)
Article
Goe, George;
(1972)
Archimedes' theory of the lever and Mach's critique
(/p/isis/citation/CBB000024230/)
Article
Palmieri, Paolo;
(2008)
The Empirical Basis of Equilibrium: Mach, Vailati, and the Lever
(/p/isis/citation/CBB000930746/)
Article
Pisano, Raffaele;
(2015)
Historical and Epistemological Reflections on the Culture of Machines around the Renaissance: Machines, Machineries and Perpetual Motion
(/p/isis/citation/CBB001551787/)
Article
Ernst Mach;
(2016)
On the Theory of the Sphygmograph
(/p/isis/citation/CBB416993430/)
Article
Alexandre Métraux;
(2016)
Ernst Mach Invents a New Sphygmograph
(/p/isis/citation/CBB931644559/)
Book
Dewey, Peter E.;
(2008)
Iron Harvests of the Field: The Making of Farm Machinery in Britain since 1800
(/p/isis/citation/CBB001201105/)
Book
Moon, Francis C.;
(2007)
The Machines of Leonardo da Vinci and Franz Reuleaux: Kinematics of Machines from the Renaissance to the 20th Century
(/p/isis/citation/CBB000953829/)
Book
Kang, Minsoo;
(2011)
Sublime Dreams of Living Machines: The Automaton in the European Imagination
(/p/isis/citation/CBB001023105/)
Thesis
Lausa, Dawn E.;
(2009)
Descartes' Daughters: Thinking-Machines and the Emergence of Posthuman Complexity
(/p/isis/citation/CBB001562841/)
Article
Siemsen, H.;
(2010)
The Psychophysiological Founding of the Analogy Concept by Ernst Mach
(/p/isis/citation/CBB001232293/)
Chapter
Sibum, H. Otto;
(2008)
Machines, Bats, and Scholars: Experimental Knowledge in the Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
(/p/isis/citation/CBB000831245/)
Article
Evan Hepler-Smith;
(2018)
“A Way of Thinking Backwards”: Computing and Method in Synthetic Organic Chemistry
(/p/isis/citation/CBB100670426/)
Article
Micheli, Gianni;
(2008)
Scienza e tecnica: i testi della meccanica classica nell'opera di Galileo
(/p/isis/citation/CBB000931286/)
Be the first to comment!