The mathematical thought of Christoph Clavius

pp. 45-93

in: Chikara Sasaki, Descartes's mathematical thought, Berlin, Springer, 2003

Abstract

In Chapter 1 we took a general view of the institutional side of Descartes's mathematical background at the college of La Flèche. We found that in the Jesuit colleges of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries the study of mathematics was generally encouraged, and that there the thought of Christoph Clavius, professor of mathematics at the Collegio Romano, was influential. However, the content of mathematical education in the Jesuit colleges, particularly in the college of La Flèche, and how it provoked the young Descartes still remain to be examined. Through examining these questions, we will better understand the continuities and discontinuities between the mathematical education which Descartes received and the mathematical thought which he began to develop in 1618.