[Pythagorean Mathematics in the Light of Cartesian Physics]

Kvasz, L. Filosofický časopis. Vol. 65, N° 4 (2017), pp. 513–541. ISSN 0015-1831

This paper is the second part in a series of articles aimed at reconstructing the emergence of mathematics as a deductive discipline in ancient Greece in the period between Thales and Euclid. We understand the emergence of mathematics as the birth of a language which enables the undertaking of deductive proofs. While in the preceding part we focused on the beginnings of Greek mathematics in Thales, here we concentrate on Pythagorean mathematics. In the literature the significance of Pythagoras as a mathematician is called into doubt. Despite this, the main part of the paper involves a reconstruction of the cognitive style of Pythagorean mathematics and this reconstruction is the basis for a defence of its authenticity.