A new look at Galileo's search for mathematical proofs (Q2501240)

The paper shows that mathematical creativity, at least in Galileo's case, is a phenomenon in which problem-finding and problem solving are strictly interconnected. Traditional views on the heuristic power of the Greek method of analysis (to be found in contemporary literature on the history and philosophy of mathematics), which, as suggested by W. Wisan, Galileo would have followed, must be called into question. Analysis, if such a thing ever existed, did not provide Galileo with a heuristics, or with a rough guide to finding problems.