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Key Letter By Descartes Found After 170 Years
Schiphol writes of a long-lost letter by René Descartes to Marin Mersenne that has come to light at Haverford College, in Pennsylvania, where it had lain buried in the archives for more than a century. The discovery could revolutionize our view of one of the 17th-century French philosopher's major works. "[T]housands of treasured documents... vanished from the Institut de France in the mid-1800s, stolen by an Italian mathematician. Among them were 72 letters by René Descartes... Now one of those purloined letters has turned up at a small private college in eastern Pennsylvania... The letter, dated May 27, 1641, concerns the publication of Meditations on First Philosophy, a celebrated work whose use of reason and scientific methods helped to ignite a revolution in thought."
Yeah, we don't have that "é " letter in our alphabet, so we must have lost it. However I'm thinking René Descartes may have just stolen it... you know how those French are...
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Chapter 1 was great, and ended in the pinnacle of the work "I think therefore I am".
After that, he couldn't go any farther, so he decided that you couldn't trust the world without the presence of God. At which point, I lost interest.
Chapter 1: A+
Chapter >1: D
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
Rene Descartes walks into a bar. The bartender asks "can I get you a beer?" Descartes replies "I think not!" and he disappears.
Thanks, I'm here all week!
(in french)
can we have the text please? (Preferably in a human language)
Sorry, it's written in French.
There was this magnificent mathematical horse. You could teach it arithmetic, which it learned with no difficulty, algebra was a breeze, it could even prove theorems in euclidean geometry, but when you tried to teach it analytic geometry, it would rear back on its hind legs, kick ferociously neigh loudly and make violent head motions in resistance.
The moral of this story is that you can't put Descartes before de horse.
*ducks*
http://www.object404.com
It's turtles all the way down, young man.
Free Martian Whores!
Well, the letter itself is incapable of thought, so logic fails when trying to determine whether or not the letter exists.
How did Guglielmo Libri the Italian mathematician got away with stealing 30,000 books and manuscript from France and got away with it. How did the official at the French Public Library not notice that one of their employee had made off with 30,000 items that does not belong to him.
He just waited until their backs were turned.
cheers bruce!
comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
I graduated from Haverford in 2005. It's a fairly prestigious small liberal arts college outside of Philadelphia (it was ranked 4th when I got in in 2001 but much of its endowment in 9/11 and is now ranked 8th by us news). It's a very liberal college with a quaker history though I believe it no longer has an official religious affiliation. The college is strong in the sciences which is the reason I went there. My faculty advisor, Gerry Gollub, for example, is recognized as a leader in the field of fluid dynamics. It takes pride in its campus and arboretum and I've heard many people with no affiliation with the college say it has the most beautiful campus in the US. Most students take about a quarter of their courses at Bryn Mawr college which is a similar but all girls college. Most events are shared between the colleges and there's considered to be little difference between a Haverford student and a Bryn Mawr student in terms of what they have permission to do. There is also a lesser relationship with Swarthmore college and the University of Pennsylvania. The college also is very proud of its honor code. Students, for example, may take tests home and are trusted not to open their text books while taking them. I would guess the college's pride in their honesty and trustworthiness was a major motivation in their decision to return the letter.
I think it's the variant on the old joke.
"For 30 years, the guard at the French Public Library for the evening shift noticed Gugli walking out with a book tucked under his arm. He always make sure to talk to Gugli, as Gugli would look very suspicious, as if he'd done something wrong. The guard always figured there wasn't something quite right about Gugli. So he'd search him, but always find nothing.
"After retiring, the guard wanted this mystery solved, so one day he followed Gugli home. He asked, 'Okay, I know you've been making some kind of mischief all these years, but I've never been able to figure out what. What have you been stealing?'
"Gugli responded, 'Books!'"
Information theory is life. The rest is just the KL divergence.
I still can't get laid at the local bars, maybe I should stop talking about Math.
Perhaps astrology might work better. Do you have any good charts?
Thanx,
Rene
I'm currently a junior at Haverford College, majoring in Computer Science with possible minors in Physics and/or Astronomy (depending on how the rest of my time here works out).
It's definitely a small school -- 1200 kids or so -- but I've found this to be quite beneficial. I'll frequently walk in on CS department meetings (unknowingly; it's just the three professors meeting in an office) and they'll ask for input on what classes they should offer in the next few semesters. I couldn't imagine this individual attention existing at a larger institution.
Haverford's Quaker roots also lend it a sense of strong community and positive social involvement. It is not officially affiliated with the Quakers any longer, but certain traditions still exist: consensus on any group decision, moments of silence before serious discussion, etc. My older brother, a graduate from another Northeastern Liberal Arts College, most notably was surprised at "how nice everyone at your school is."
All in all, a wonderful place. Very happy I go there, and sad to be leaving it soon.
My point is that if well in digital age i would think normal than copies of it being everywhere, in 1700 still someone could have made copies or somehow made public the critical points, if had something that could revolutionize their views. If they were buried in a private collection where noone could see them and tell that had something revolutionary, then that had being stolen would had made no difference.
Historically is was a place for science and mathmatics. Since those disciplines now have there own fields, what the hell good is philosphy?
Before someone responds with the boring and done arguments, my initial goal in college was to become a philosophy professor. It was then I realized it ahs nothing new to offer the world. Even the most basic philosophy question have been answered.
Which came first, chicken or the egg? Evolution has taught is it was the egg.
If yopu walk towards something, but only half the remaining difference, will you ever get there: Quantum mechanics has shown us that, yes, we would get there because there is a smallest distance that can be moved.
These may be interesting papers because they come from a time when philosophy was critical to develop logical, rational, and skeptical questions.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Meh, it's getting a bit stale. Besides, it wasn't really that funny when Decartes thought he told it in 1630.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I do enjoy a good ghoti for lunch.
Marvin? Is that you?
Free Martian Whores!
Then you might appreciate this.
Stop Global Warming!
Just say no to irreversible processes!