Mathesis Universalis - Caresis Universalis ..?
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| Frontispiece of Operum Mathematicorum Pars Prima (1657) by John Wallis, the first volume of Opera Mathematica including a chapter entitled Mathesis Universalis |
"Mathesis universalis (from Greek: μάθησις, mathesis "science or learning", and Latin: universalis "universal") is a hypothetical universal science modelled on mathematics envisaged by Descartes and Leibniz, among a number of other 16th- and 17th-century philosophers and mathematicians. For Leibniz, it would be supported by a calculus ratiocinator. John Wallis invokes the name as title in his Opera Mathematica, a textbook on arithmetic, algebra, and Cartesian geometry"
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René Descartes
In Descartes' corpus the term mathesis universalis appears only in the Rules for the Direction of the Mind.[1] In the discussion of Rule Four, Descartes' provides his clearest description of mathesis universalis:
- Rule Four
- We need a method if we are to investigate the truth of things.
[...] I began my investigation by inquiring what exactly is generally meant by the term 'mathematics' and why it is that, in addition to arithmetic and geometry, sciences such as astronomy, music, optics, mechanics, among others, are called branches of mathematics. [...] This made me realize that there must be a general science which explains all the points that can be raised concerning order and measure irrespective of the subject-matter, and that this science should be termed mathesis universalis — a venerable term with a well-established meaning — for it covers everything that entitles these other sciences to be called branches of mathematics. [...]
— René Descartes, Rules for the Direction of the Mind; translated by John Cottingham[4]
orcid.org/0000-0002-0192-8965