SV: An article mentioning History of Science

[Lars Martin Fosse]

Ravi Chaudhary [SMTP:Ravi9 at HOTMAIL.COM] skrev 8. mars 2001 00:38:
> How valid are the theories of Seidenberg, and  Playfair ?

The references for Seidenberg's papers are:

Seidenberg, A. 1962. The Ritual Origin of Geometry. Archive for History of
Exact Sciences 1:488-527.
Seidenberg, A. 1978. The Origin of Mathematics. Archive for History of
Exact Sciences 18:301-342.

Seidenberg's papers are serious research and contain much interesting
information. However, he has not met with general approval as far as his
main hypothesis is concerned ("Vedic origins"). An indirect critique of
Seidenberg is found in Carl B. Boyer. A History of Mathematics, page 7.
(Seidenberg's papers are mentioned in the bibliography). Boyer essentially
says that we cannot determine where geometry originated, nor for that
matter whether it originated in one or several places independently.

A discussion of John Playfair and Indian Astronomy is found in Thomas
Trautmann "Aryans and British India" (p 84-89). The bottom line is that his
views on the primacy of Indian astronomy were rejected by no less a man
than the Marquis de Laplace. (I recommend Trautmann's book for a number of
reasons.)

Best regards,

Lars Martin Fosse

Dr. art. Lars Martin Fosse
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