Cognitive unity of Thales' mathematics (Q2151528)

This paper is concerned with the study of ``the teleological process of the creation of the language of mathematics'' (p.\ 739). This is done by looking at the type of mathematical theorems attributed to Thales (for which authenticty is deduced on the basis of ``indirect epistemological evidence'' (p.\ 751)), relying ``on the hypothesis that the creation of the language of mathematics during the period between Thales and Euclid was in many respects analogous to the creation of the language of physics during the period between Galileo and Newton'' (p.\ 740). The latter has been dealt with by the author in several papers and summarized in [``Galileo, Descartes, and Newton -- founders of the language of physics'', Acta Phys. Slovaca 62, No. 6, 519--614 (2012; \url{doi:10.2478/v10155-012-0001-6})]. The author thus uses ``the main findings of the analysis of the emergence of the language of physics as a guideline in the reconstruction of the emergence of the language of mathematics'' (p.\ 740). Without quoting Paul Valéry, who wrote in his \textit{Cahiers} that ``L'invention de la géométrie a consisté à introduire le langage et les opérations logiques du langage comme developpement d'une connaissance intuitive. Ce pas est énorme.'' the author writes: ``The emergence of mathematics consisted, from an epistemological perspective, in the \textit{creation of a language} that makes it possible to derive \textit{objective, exact} and \textit{universal} propositions about the \textit{ideal, a-temporal and immaterial objects} of mathematics by means of constructive and calculative \textit{manipulation of their linguistic representations}'' (p.\ 740f). The author's focus is ``on the first stage of the process of idealization, which was represented in the case of mathematics by Thales and in the case of physics by Galileo'' (p.\ 741). His ``aim is to show that, from a sufficiently abstract point of view, the linguistic frameworks that are connected to the scientific contributions of these two men show remarkable parallels'' (p.\ 741). Similar advances and shortcomings are found in both Galileo and Thales, for example the principle of inertia found in Galilean physics is found to be analogous in Thales' geometry to what the author calls the ``principle of symmetry'' (circle being bisected by diameter, equality of the the angles at the base of any isosceles triangle refer to symmetric configurations), among the shortcomings of Thales geometry is ``the absence of the concept of similarity'', or the fact that its language ``lacks deductive synthesis'' (p.\ 750). The reviewer was surprised to read that ``It seems impossible for our understanding of the history of the beginnings of Greek mathematics to exceed that of Sir Heath (1921), van der Waerden (1966), Burkert (1962). The deeper we enter into the world of classical philology, the stronger grows the feeling that a reconstruction of the emergence of ancient Greek mathematics remains forever guesswork.'' \par Even though it may ``remain forever guesswork'', work toward reconstructing the emergence of ancient Greek mathematics has gone significantly beyond the literature cited in this paper (which contains only \textit{R. Netz} [The shaping of deduction in Greek mathematics. A study in cognitive history. Ideas in Context. 51. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1999; Zbl 1025.01002)] as literature on the subject after 1972), and the work of Árpád Szabó, Wilbur Richard Knorr, Ian Mueller, and Erwin Neuenschwander cannot be dismissed as ``philological''. Particularly relevant to the author's aim is \textit{C. Lattmann} [Mathematische Modellierung bei Platon zwischen Thales und Euklid. Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Cultures 9. Berlin: De Gruyter (2019; Zbl 1418.01003)]. Also, when referring to Pythagoras, only Burkert's 1962 monograph is mentioned. One would have expected to see \textit{L. Zhmud} [Pythagoras and the early Pythagoreans. Translated from the Russian by Kevin Windle and Rosh Ireland. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2012; Zbl 1312.01001)] at least as a bibliographic entry.