John Wallis and the Catholics: confessional and theological antagonism in Wallis's mathematics and philosophy

Author:

Richter Adam D.1

Affiliation:

1. Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto, 91 Charles Street West, Victoria College, Room 316, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1K7, Canada

Abstract

Like many of his contemporaries, the mathematician and Anglican minister John Wallis (1616–1703) repeatedly made disparaging remarks about Roman Catholics, particularly the pope and the Jesuits. This paper considers how Wallis's anti-Catholic attitude affected his reception of ideas about nature and mathematics. A well-known example is his resistance to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in England, which he claimed would be an implicit acknowledgement of the pope's authority. This was not an isolated case in Wallis's career. For instance, the same attitude is evident in his earliest publication, Truth Tried (1643), wherein he adopts a position on the metaphysics of time and place that explicitly opposes the doctrine of transubstantiation. In addition, anti-Catholicism made Wallis more receptive to subjects that otherwise did not interest him, namely numerology and biblical prophecy. This helps to explain his decision to publish a Latin translation of Francis Potter's Interpretation of the Number 666 (1642), which Wallis seems to have appreciated mainly because of its argument that the pope is the Antichrist. These cases offer insights about Wallis's motivations as a natural philosopher and mathematician, and how they relate to anti-Catholicism in early modern English science more generally.

Publisher

The Royal Society

Subject

History and Philosophy of Science

Cited by 3 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3