Rethinking Stevin, Stevin Rethinking : Constructions of a Dutch Polymath.

Half Title -- Series Information -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Preface -- Illustrations -- Notes on Contributors -- Introduction Simon Stevin, Polymaths and Polymathy in the Early Modern Period -- 1 Simon Stevin: a Brief Life -- 2 Polymaths and Polymathy: a Conceptual Survey -- 3 Polymaths and Polymathy in Comparative Perspective -- 4 Stevin Thinking: Searching for Keys in the Consten -- 5 Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 1 The Engineer and the Philosopher: Reflections on the Culture and Economy of Mechanics in Court Society -- 1 The Codification of an Aristocratic Discipline -- 2 Benedetti's Physico-Mathematics: a Courtly Path to Science -- 3 The Socio-Economic and Political Terrain of Court Science: the Case of Benedetti -- 4 Concluding Remarks -- Acknowledgment -- Bibliography -- Chapter 2 Vitruvian Universalism: On the Order of Mechanical Knowledge in the Works of Joseph Furttenbach the Elder (1591-1667) -- 1 Peregrinatio Mechanica and Militaris -- 2 Self-Fashioning: the Locality and Universality of Knowledge -- 3 Armory and the Cabinet of Curiosity -- 4 Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 3 The Swedish Archimedes: The Formation of the Polymath Christopher Polhem -- 1 Introduction: Polhem's Headache -- 2 The Swedish Archimedes -- 3 Mechanical Education -- 4 Mechanical Perception -- 5 Mechanical Communication -- 6 Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 4 Stevin's Physical Geography The World as a Chemical Furnace -- 1 General Principles -- 2 The Constitution of the Earth -- 3 Experience and Chemistry -- 4 Mechanical Chemistry -- 5 Stevin and the Mechanization of Nature -- Bibliography -- Chapter 5 The Art of Demonstration in the Work of Simon Stevin: Linguistic and Mathematical Innovation -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The Cultural and Social Context -- 3 Structure and Content -- 3.1 Method and Organization.

4 Common Sense, Common Language and Mathematics -- 4.1 The Certainty of Mathematics -- 5 Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 6 Causality and the Reduction to Art of Simon Stevin's Mechanics -- 1 Bringing Mechanics to the Form of Art -- 2 Delineating a Field -- 3 Demonstrating the Law of the Lever and the Law of the Inclined Plane16 -- 4 Disclosing the Causes of the Properties of the Balance -- 5 Formal Causality and the Arts -- 6 Coordinating Theory and Practice, Cause and Effect -- 7 Conclusion: 'This Long-Hidden Matter' -- Bibliography -- Chapter 7 The Wise Origins of the Consten: Stevin and Sixteenth-Century Debates on Arts, Mathematics and Language -- 1 The 'Wijsentijt' in Stevin's Oeuvre -- 2 Stevin's Program for the Consten -- 3 A Grammar of the Arts -- 4 Blending Theory and Praxis -- 5 Stevin and Ramus -- 6 Stevin's Persona -- Bibliography -- Chapter 8 Simon Stevin's Age of the Sages: In Search of an Alternative Renaissance: Exploring Scientific Methods Based on Pre-Classical Authorities, Empirical Data and Pure Languages -- 1 Prelude: the Fantastical Theory of the Age of the Sages -- 2 The 'Age of the Sages': Signs Based on Philological Fragments -- 3 The Restoration of the Age of the Sages -- 4 Anticipation of the Restoration of the Age of the Sages in Stevin's Early Work -- 5 Stevin's Teaching and Its Impact on Scientific Methods -- 6 The Wisconstighe Ghedachtenissen and the 'Age of the Sages' -- 7 The 'Age of the Sages' and Stevin's Unfinished Works -- 7.1 Pre-classical Authority -- 7.2 Empirical Data -- 7.3 Pure Languages -- 8 Epilogue: Restoring the Age of the Sages and an Alternative Renaissance -- Bibliography -- Chapter 9 Politics in the Vernacular: The Vita politica. Het burgherlick leven (1590) as a Practical Guide to Civic Life -- 1 The Publication and Context of the Vita politica. Het burgherlick leven.

2 The Content of the Vita politica and the Two Options for a 'Civic Life' -- 3 The Vita politica: Not a 'Mirror for a Prince' But a Practical Guide for the Citizen -- 4 Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 10 Simon Stevin's Music Theory Revisited A Dialogue -- Part i, by H. Floris Cohen -- Part ii, by Julia Kursell -- 1 -- 2 -- 3 -- Part iii, by H. Floris Cohen -- Part iv, by H. Floris Cohen and Julia Kursell -- Bibliography -- Index.

This book studies the Dutch mathematician Simon Stevin (1548-1620) as a new type of 'man of knowledge'. Stevin exemplifies a wider trend of polymathy in the early modern period. Polymaths played a crucial role in the transformation of European learning.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.